Over 8.27 lakh IT jobs in State: FM

Information technology (IT) jobs in Telangana have increased from a little over 3.23 lakh during the time of the State formation in 2014 to 8,27,124 at present, Finance Minister T. Harish Rao said in the Budget speech on Monday.

“There is an increase of 156% in IT jobs in the State,” he said, adding that in the same period IT exports from Telangana increased from ₹57,258 crore to ₹1,83,569 crore.

The Budget allocation for 2023-24 for the Department of Information Technology and Communications is ₹366 crore.

The Finance Minister said as part of the efforts to encourage IT industry to spread wings to tier-2 cities, the State government had constructed IT Towers at Warangal, Karimnagar and Khammam. In Nizamabad, Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda and Siddipet, IT towers were under construction and would become operational in the coming financial year, he said.

According to the Telangana Socio-Economic Outlook, an enabling environment was behind the “remarkable growth in IT exports from the State. Between 2014-15 and 2021-22, IT exports from the State experienced a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.67%.”

The report said this citing how the Services sector in Telangana experienced a 17.5% growth in the GVA at current prices in 2022-23. While the sector was the worst hit during the pandemic in 2020-21, the nominal GSVA of the sector in 2022-23 was 41.1% higher than its pre-pandemic GVA (2019-20) reflecting a strong resurgence in the demand for services produced in Telangana.

Based on the Provisional Advance Estimates of GSVA for Telangana, in 2022-23, the sector accounted for 62.8% of the state’s GSVA at current prices.

The ‘Real Estate, Ownership of Dwelling and Professional Services’ was the most dominant sub sector of the services sector in the State, which contributed to more than one-third of the GSVA at current prices. Citing the JLL-City-Momentum Index-2020, it said Hyderabad city was one of the world’s best-performing cities for prime offices and its rental growth was phenomenal. Driving the momentum was a thriving technology sector.

The report said innovation and technology were the prime drivers of industrial growth in Telangana. The State had 78 incubators, accelerators and co-working spaces with a specific focus on Lifesciences, FinTech, Agri Tech and Digital.

Commenting on the Budget, Senior Branch Director – Hyderabad of real estate consultancy Knight Frank India Samson Arthur hailed its focus on infrastructure development and welfare. The State government had walked the tightrope of not announcing a populist budget despite this being an election year.