Hyderabad: Twin Benefits

Founded in 1591, the

capital of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad is the sixth largest city in

India. With the Charminar at its center, this planned city has now

grown beyond the confines to include a new town north of the 'Musi

River' and the military cantonment at Secunderabad. Though

geographically separated from Hyderabad by the 'Hussain Sagar',

Secunderabad is no longer a separate municipal unit today and has

become a part of Hyderabad. Both the cities are nicknamed as the

'twin cities' and are collectively known as Hyderabad. Though they

are called twin cities, both the cities have different histories and

cultures, with Secunderabad having developed directly under British

rule until 1948 and Hyderabad as the capital of the 'Nizams'

princely state. Being one of the largest cantonments in India,

Secunderabad is also the headquarters of South Central Railway Zone

of the Indian Railways. On the other hand, Hyderabad has established

itself as the leading destination for IT and IT-enabled services,

pharmaceuticals, call-centers and entertainment industries. Several

Fortune 500 corporations, mostly related to IT or BPO services

industry have set up their operations in Hyderabad.

Notwithstanding the fact

that Hyderabad has got a booming IT industry, the growth in the past

few months have been quite disheartening for the dealers of the city.

According to KV Rao of Cluster Infotech, although the market has

recovered after the slowdown, it has been doing an average business

from the past few months with no new trend coming up in the market.

style="font-weight: normal;"> style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;">HP,

Dell

and Lenovo has been the major selling brands in the city and

netbooks and desktops are the top selling products. The city has got

a number of prominent dealers and owing to the corporate segment,

Hyderabad has always maintained a steady growth chart as compared to

its nearby markets. Talking about the

main business verticals of the city, Srinivas Rao, CEO, AS

Technologies said, "Although the consumer segment has been

faring better in the city, but SMB and government sectors are face="Times New Roman, serif"> style="font-weight: normal;"> style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;">

the two prime business verticals, with government sector contributing

the most, as it is has got some new projects in the pipeline.”

Sharing his optimistic views on the future, KV Rao said that the

service sector is expected to grow in the

coming times and consumer sector also looks promising as new

showrooms have been opening up in the city.