Honeywell Technology Solutions, a Fortune-500 company, is setting up its research and development centre at Nanakramguda on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet, at its meeting on Monday, approved allotment of 10 acres of land to Honeywell for its R&D centre. The price of land has been fixed at Rs 40 lakh (Rs 4 million) per acre.
Honeywell, a specialised software development company in high-end engineering design in aerospace controls, turbochargers and automotive products, would invest Rs 45 crore (Rs 450 million) in the Hyderabad facility with annual turnover of Rs 700 crore (Rs 7 billion) and employment for 5,500 people by 2009, according to AP Information & Public Relations Minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir.
Briefing newsmen after the Cabinet meeting, Shabbir said that location of Honeywell operations in Hyderabad would be first of their kind in the state and open new job avenues in the field of aerospace.
Honeywell, which ranks 71st in the Fortune-500 lsit, has business presence in India worth $ 400 million (Rs 2,000 crore) per annum. The company has operations at present at Pune, Bangalore, Chennai and Gurgaon, employing 7,000 people.
The minister said that the Microsoft Corporation would also expand its operations in Hyderabad. The state Cabinet has also decided to allot 6.78 acres of land adjacent to its present campus spread over an area of 42.25 acres in Manikonda near the Indian School of Business on the city outskirts. The land is being sold at Rs 29 lakh (Rs 2.9 million) per acre.
Microsoft would employ 1,900 IT professionals in its expanded facility. So far, the company has invested Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) in Hyderabad and created jobs for 3,600 software professionals.
It may be recalled that Microsoft had set up a software development center in Hitec City at Madhapur near Hyderabad in 1999 and later established a permanent facility for their software development at Manikonda on the site allotted by the government in August 2003.
Shabbir said that the progress made by the state in the field of IT came up for review in the state Cabinet meeting and the government patted itself on its achievements both in terms of attracting investments and creations of job.
He said that the performance of the Congress government during the last two years has surpassed the record of Telugu Desam Party during its eight years in power under N Chandrababu Naidu's stewardship.
"During the seven years from 1997 to 2004, as many as 1,060 IT companies were registered, 32 companies were allotted 307 acres of land and 85,945 professionals got jobs in the state," he said.
During 2004-05, the first year of Congress rule under Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, 152 IT companies were registered in the state and four of them were allotted 33 acres of land.
The IT sector created 40,975 new job. In 2005-06, 170 IT companies were registered, 37 companies were allotted 353.35 acres of land and another 40,000 jobs for IT professionals were created.
In terms of investment, the earlier TDP regime had attracted Rs 3,533 crore (Rs 35.33 billion) during seven years, while the Congress government attracted Rs 4,341 crore (Rs 43.41 billion) in the first year and Rs 5,356 crore (Rs 53.56 billion) in the second year.
"The performance of our government during the last two years has crossed the achievements of eight years under Chandrababu Naidu," Shabbir said.
At the moment, more than160,000 IT professionals are employed in 1,382 companies in the state. "Soon we will overtake Bangalore and other places to become the number one IT hub in the country," he exuded confidence.
The state has set the target of Rs 69,000 crore (Rs 690 billion) IT exports and employment for 300,000 IT professionals by 2009.
Do you want to discuss stock tips? Do you know a hot one? Join the Stock Market Investments Discussion Group
© 2026