Hyderabad

Hyderabad, often known as the “Pearl City of India,” is the capital of Telangana in southern India, and is situated on the banks of the Musi River and on the Deccan Plateau. Hyderabad and Secunderabad are “twin cities” located around Hussain Sagar Lake (also known as Tank Bund in local language), yet both towns have developed so much that they now form one large metropolis. Hyderabad’s city and district are contiguous. Hyderabad district is wholly enclosed inside Telangana’s Ranga Reddy district. Many of Hyderabad’s suburbs were recently integrated into the metropolis, which is now known as Greater Hyderabad.

Hyderabad, a city steeped in history and culture, today vies with Bangalore and Chennai for the title of India’s IT capital; Microsoft and Google have their India headquarters here.

If you are visiting Hyderabad for business, as is more common these days, it is easy to overlook the 400-year-old Hyderabad. The first thing that comes to mind is a huge metropolis of retail malls and office buildings with glass facades. The whole city seems to be under construction or repair, and the roads are congested due to the metro’s development.

The magnificent “old city,” which was once the seat of the Nizam, the ruler of the largest and most opulent “princely state,” and the twin city of Secunderabad, where the British kept a cantonment to keep the army within striking distance of the Nizam, can only be seen if you take the time to see them.

Hyderabad is known as the City of Pearls, the City of Nawabs, the Biryani City, and Cyberabad due to its high-tech enterprises.

Hyderabad, like many other Indian cities, has a tropical climate. From mid-November to mid-February is the finest time to visit the city. During this period, temperatures are warm with plenty of sunlight, with average temperatures ranging from 15°C (59°F) to 29°C (85°F).

From March through June, the weather is hot and dry, with occasional thunderstorms. Highs may reach 45°C (113°F) or more, and a lack of air conditioning can make it seem quite hot. July, August, September, and October may be fairly warm and humid, and low pressure systems from the Bay of Bengal can generate torrential rain for days during the monsoon season.

Hyderabad is located in southern Telangana in southeastern India, 1,566 kilometers (973 miles) south of Delhi, 699 kilometers (434 miles) southeast of Mumbai, and 570 kilometers (350 miles) north of Bangalore via road. It is located in the northern region of the Deccan Plateau, on the banks of the Musi River. Greater Hyderabad has a land area of 650 km2 (250 sq mi), making it one of India’s biggest metropolitan cities. Hyderabad has an average elevation of 542 meters (1,778 feet) and is built on undulating terrain of grey and pink granite interspersed with minor hills, the largest being the Banjara Hills at 672 meters (2,205 ft). Sagar, which means “sea,” refers to the city’s many lakes. Artificial lakes formed by dams on the Musi, such as Hussain Sagar (completed in 1562 in the city center), Osman Sagar, and Himayat Sagar, are examples. The city has 140 lakes and 834 water tanks in 1996.

According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Hyderabad is the greatest contributor to Telangana’s GDP, tax, and other revenues, as well as the sixth largest deposit and fourth largest credit hub in the country, as of June 2012. With a GDP of $74 billion, it was the fifth-largest contributor to India’s total GDP in 2011–12. In 2011, its per capita yearly income was 44,300 (US$660). The governments of Andhra Pradesh (113,098 workers) and India were the city’s top employers in 2006. (85,155). A 2005 poll found that 77 percent of men and 19 percent of females in the city were employed. The service industry remains prominent in the city, employing 90 percent of the working population.

Hyderabad was known as the “City of Pearls” because of its prominence in the pearl trade, and it was also the sole worldwide trading center for big diamonds until the 18th century. Industrialization started in the late nineteenth century under the Nizams, aided by railway construction that linked the city to important ports. From the 1950s to the 1970s, Indian companies such as Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC), National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), Bharat Electronics (BEL), Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH), The city is home to Hyderabad Securities, previously known as the Hyderabad Stock Exchange (HSE), as well as the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s regional headquarters (SEBI). In 2013, it was predicted that the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) facility in Hyderabad will offer operational and transaction services to the BSE-Mumbai by the end of 2014. The expansion of the financial services industry has aided Hyderabad’s transformation from a typical manufacturing city to a cosmopolitan industrial service hub. Since the 1990s, the rise of information technology (IT), IT-enabled services (ITES), insurance, and financial institutions has enlarged the service sector, boosting the auxiliary sectors of trade and commerce, transportation, storage, communication, real estate, and retail.

The commercial marketplaces of Hyderabad are split into four categories: central business districts, sub-central business districts, neighborhood business centers, and local business centers. Many traditional and historic bazaars can be found around the city, with Laad Bazaar being the most well-known. It is well-known for selling a wide range of traditional and cultural antique products, as well as jewels and pearls.

Following the formation of Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL), a public sector initiative, in 1961, various national and worldwide firms opened production and research facilities in the city throughout the decades. As of 2010, the city produced one-third of India’s bulk pharmaceuticals and 16% of biotechnology goods, lending to its distinction as “India’s pharmaceutical capital” and “India’s Genome Valley.” Hyderabad is nicknamed as Cyberabad because it is a worldwide center of information technology (Cyber City). As of 2013, it provided 15% of India’s and 98.5% of Andhra Pradesh’s exports in the IT and ITES sectors, and it accounts for 22% of NASSCOM’s overall membership. The construction of HITEC City, a township with substantial technical infrastructure, enticed global corporations to set up shop in Hyderabad. More than 1300 IT and ITES enterprises are headquartered in the city, including worldwide corporations like as Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Google, IBM, Yahoo!, Dell, and Facebook, as well as prominent Indian firms such as Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Polaris, and Wipro. The World Bank Group recognized the city as the second best in India for conducting business in 2009. The city and its suburbs have the most special economic zones of any Indian city.

Hyderabad, like the rest of India, has a sizable informal sector that employs 30% of the labor force. According to a 2007 assessment, there were 40–50,000 street vendors, and their numbers were growing. Eighty-four percent of street vendors are men, sixteen percent are women, and four-fifths operate from a fixed pitch, typically with their own booth. The majority are paid for using personal resources, with just 8% borrowing from moneylenders. Vendor profits range from $50 (74 US) to $1,000 (US$12) every day. Dairy, poultry farming, brick manufacture, casual labor, and domestic assistance are among other unorganized economic sectors. The informal sector employs a large proportion of the urban poor.

POST OFFICE

India Post, a government-owned company, has its headquarters in Abids, known as GPO. Secunderabad is the city with the second-largest population.

LANDLINES

040 is the dialing code for Hyderabad. When calling from outside India, use +91 40 XXXX XXXX. If you have a phone number with just 7 digits that isn’t functioning, try adding “2” in front of it. There are public booths located around the city.

MOBILE PHONES

For local/national calls, the pricing for Indian phones is roughly 1 paisa per second. It is quite simple to get a prepaid mobile phone, which is very inexpensive to purchase and use. According to government requirements, prepaid postpaid connections need both a picture ID and a photograph.

INTERNET

Internet cafés may be located all across town, although they are particularly common in the metropolis and in residential neighborhoods. The hourly rate ranges from $5 to $15. Broadband internet centers are provided by Reliance WebWorld.

For longer stays with a laptop, it’s best to purchase a Data plan from Tata Indicom or Reliance Mobile, which costs roughly 1,000 per month. If you have a WiFi-enabled laptop or other digital device, there are several public WiFi networks in Hyderabad that provide free high-speed internet access.