The turning point in the development of the city came in the late 1990s, when N. Chandrababu Naidu took over as Chief Minister and visualised HITEC City — a third city to the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad — with its iconic Cyber Towers in Madhapur, on the western side of Hyderabad, beyond Jubilee Hills. Cyber Towers was completed in a remarkable 14 months and soon became a favourite destination for IT companies. HITEC City expanded into Cyberabad, encompassing Gachibowli and beyond, and there was no looking back.

A number of private engineering colleges also came up. Stretching his aggressive marketing skills to a level only he knows best, Mr. Naidu managed to convince Bill Gates to set up Microsoft in Hyderabad, its first offshore centre outside the United States of America. Another coup of sorts was bringing the Indian School of Business (ISB) to the city. The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport was another feather in his cap, though it was inaugurated during the Congress regime.

For all his focus on Hyderabad, which came at the expense of rural areas at a time when the State was reeling under severe drought, Mr. Naidu paid a political price, giving way to Congress Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

By this time, Hyderabad had emerged as a magnet for IT and services, second only to Bengaluru.

The city was rather fortunate to experience political continuity during its rapid progress over the last two-and-a-half decades. Political leaders, irrespective of party affiliations, continued to contribute to the development and expansion of the city. YSR’s significant contributions included the Nehru Outer Ring Road, PVNR Expressway and Hyderabad Metro Rail, all of which gave a major boost to connectivity.

Yes, Hyderabad has developed considerably, but it still suffers from poor road infrastructure and an unreliable storm-water drainage system. This is partly because most Chief Ministers viewed tall towers as symbols of development. and never delved deeper into the reasons why Hyderabad faces perennial flooding.

Building permissions were granted right, left and centre, with little regard for the city’s natural, undulating landscape and hundreds of lakes. To top it all, Building Regularisation Schemes were pushed through with scant regard for the carrying capacity of roads and drainage systems. This development has come at a huge cost, including the loss of greenery, lakes, listed heritage buildings and rock formations.

After the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and the creation of Telangana, there were fears of a slowdown in investments in Hyderabad. Those fears proved misplaced. The new Telangana Rashtra Samithi, later renamed Bharat Rashtra Samithi, under Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, took the city’s development forward. His pet project of building a majestic Telangana Secretariat overlooking Hussain Sagar and enhancing the lake’s environs brought about a much-needed makeover of the city. The then Information Technology Minister K.T. Rama Rao showed particular interest in improving the city’s infrastructure, adding landmarks such as the Durgam Cheruvu Cable Bridge, laying new roads and redesigning and widening existing ones.

With young Congress leader A. Revanth Reddy taking over the reins from the BRS, the city is expected to have a fourth city towards the south of Hyderabad, its most neglected region. His push for the Musi River rejuvenation plan and the removal of encroachments from lakes could, hopefully, usher in a better Hyderabad.

K.Venkateshwarlu, former Resident Editor, The Hindu, Andhra Pradesh

Long before digital sensors and instant cloud uploads revolutionized the Press, capturing history for The Hindu across undivided Andhra Pradesh was an endurance sport.

It was defined by the pungent smell of darkroom chemicals in dimly lit hotel rooms, tight deadlines, and an unyielding commitment to truth, recalls former Chief News Photographer H. Satish.

From the quiet beginnings of the Hyderabad edition in 1976 — when senior journalists relied on State public relations photos and freelance shots — the newspaper’s visual narrative shifted radically in 1990.

The department was started by photo editor S. Kodandaraman who came from then Madras with two cameras and handed them over to Mr. H. Satish. The number of photographers gradually increased over the years as the city edition got prominence with more pages. It was an opportunity for the staff photojournalists to transform the city and regional reportage capturing the pivotal political moments, changes in the city landscapes, the quiet rhythm of daily life and human tragedies, among others.

Whether in documenting the aftermath of the Latur earthquake, exposing raw human realities like child labour, or filing breaking images amidst citywide curfews, naxalite shoot-outs, the visual team anchored the newsroom.

Field reporting in the pre-digital era demanded raw physical grit. Photojournalists navigated assignments carrying darkroom kits into makeshift hotel setups. They processed negatives manually, rushing against time to transmit images via standalone fax machines over single telephone lines – often sending the solitary photograph that would inform the nation the next morning.

During moments of extreme crisis, like the catastrophic 2005 Valigonda train collision, photojournalists rode two-wheelers through flooded terrain, joining rescue operations while securing historic visual evidence under torrential rains. The team had noted news photographers like P.V. Sivakumar, S. Gajendran, Mohd. Yousuf, K. Ramesh Babu and others who served the organisation for years with aplomb.

Even as the cameras got transformed into SLRs followed by the digital cameras, the photojournalists got an additional job of shooting videos and within no time, our team has been straddling both still photos and videography for the print/digital editions. We are now a three-member strong team, including G. Ramakrishna, a relatively younger Siddhanth Thakur and stringer photographer Mohd. Arif shooting from Sangareddy.

(nagara.gopal@thehindu.co.in)

Hyderabad has long been welcoming of new investments and over the decades come to boast of a diversified industrial landscape.

From pharmaceuticals, chemicals and engineering to cutting-edge work in Life Sciences, defence and aerospace, space technology, electric mobility, electronics manufacturing and data centres, the city is home to a blend of old-economy industries and new-age enterprises.

Also Read: The Hyderabad that was, and the city it is now

In recent years, it has emerged as a preferred destination for Global Capability Centres (GCCs) of multinational corporations. The sector has added a new dimension to the city’s technology ecosystem, complementing the software products and services industry that helped Hyderabad earn comparisons with Bengaluru. Unlike back office operations of MNCs, often operated in India by third parties, the GCCs function as integral parts of their parent organisations, creating value across information technology, research and development (R&D), customer support operations and even intellectual property-related functions. By leveraging the city’s deep talent pool, they also help achieve significant cost efficiencies though labour arbitrage is no longer the main reason driving firms set up GCCs in India.

Real estate consultancy JLL, on the occasion of the opening 1.20 lakh sq. ft. GCC of JLL Business Services (JBS) in the city in early August, said Hyderabad is on course to be a powerhouse for GCCs in India driven by a strong talent base, world-class infrastructure and a business-friendly ecosystem. The city commanded 16% of the country’s total GCC leasing activity during the 2024 to mid-2026 period. GCCs accounted for an impressive 42% of all office leasing activity within Hyderabad itself. Speaking at the event, Telangana IT and Industries Minister D. Sridhar Babu said Hyderabad had attracted nearly 150 GCCs in a span of 20 months, generating more than 1.5 lakh high-value technology jobs.

In recent years the city has also consolidated its position as a major defence and aerospace solutions hub and emerged as a leading drone manufacturer. Spacetech is another area where the city is making significant strides. While companies such as Ananth Technologies and MTAR Technologies have long contributed to ISRO missions as critical component suppliers, the defining moment came recently when Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace, founded by two former ISRO scientists, became the first private Indian company to launch an orbital-class rocket from Indian soil.

Data centres, backed by investment commitments worth billions of dollars, and electric mobility are among the other new-age sectors drawing attention to Hyderabad. At the heart of these developments is a robust ecosystem comprising deep technology and engineering talent, premier research and strategic institutions, and enabling platforms such as the T-Hub incubator.

Hyderabad is home to major organisations including the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Research Centre Imarat (RCI), National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) and the Advanced Data Processing Research Institute (ADRI), an ISRO facility focused on satellite data processing, remote sensing and geospatial intelligence. Together, these institutions have built deep expertise across propulsion, advanced electronics, aerospace systems, remote sensing, satellite data and space technologies. Hyderabad is also home to a strong network of aerospace and defence SMEs, emerging technology companies, engineering firms and fabrication facilities. Global players such as Lockheed Martin, GE Aerospace, Collins Aerospace and Boeing that add further depth to the ecosystem.

This is supported by experienced industry talent and a strong pipeline of young engineers from institutions such as the IITs, IIITs and BITS. Together, these strengths give Hyderabad a strong foundation to build complex frontier technologies and advanced hardware, and a natural advantage in shaping the next phase of India’s space-tech growth, the Minister had said after an interaction with leadership of about 14 spacetech firms.

What comes next? As the city looks to scale up its presence across emerging technologies, much would depend on how quickly the proposed Future City and with it the AI City, the Space City and Data Centre hub take shape.

(ravikumar.n@thehindu.co.in)