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Hyderabad: A
world-class Media City will come up in Hyderabad to promote
animation and gaming, Andhra Pradesh's Minister for Information
Technology Ponnala Lakshmaiah said Thursday.
The state government has allotted 30 acres of land for the
project, which is expected to provide an entertainment
technology-based eco-system.
"Gaming and animation is a key sector which is coming up and to
utilize the opportunity, the chief minister has given a go-ahead
for a world-class Media City in Hyderabad," Lakshmaiah said while
addressing eIndia 2012, billed as India's largest information and
communication technology event.
The minister pointed out that Hyderabad is the largest film
producing centre in the country. Last year out of 289 films made
in India, 180 were produced in Hyderabad, he said.
The Media City initiative is aimed at tapping the huge animation
and gaming market, both domestic and international.
The IT minister had last month said the proposed Media City at
Raidurg near Hitec City would be on the lines of international
media cities in Manchester, Montreal, and Dubai.
A state delegation led by the minister visited Dubai, Manchester
and London from Nov 5 to 11 to gain first-hand knowledge of media
cities. They held talks with the managements of the media cities
and discussed various aspects of the projects.
In Dubai, the four-member delegation visited Dubai Media City,
Dubai Studio City and International Media Production Zone.
The global market size for animation and gaming is expected to be
$80 billion and $40 billion respectively during the current year.
The market for animation and gaming development (combined) in
India is estimated at $1 billion.
The US and the Europe remain the biggest markets for outsourcing
animation and gaming related activities. Majority of the work from
the US and the European markets are being outsourced to Manchester
and Dubai media cities.
Talking about the IT and ITES as a whole, Lakshmaiah pointed out
that Hyderabad ranks third globally in terms of cost of operations
after Qinding in China and Subaya in Malaysia.
"There is no secret why over 18 million sq ft has been taken on
lease by various companies operating in Hyderabad," he said.
The minister said despite the apprehensions voiced in some
quarters over the growth of IT sector, 150 new units were
registered during 2011-12. About 60 lakh sq ft office space was
occupied as against 50 lakh sq ft during the previous year.
The total office space in Hyderabad during the current year is
expected to reach 20 million sq ft, a growth of 15 percent over
last year. The city accounts for 12 percent of the total office
space in India.
Hyderabad is home to 1,200 IT companies including all top 500
global firms like Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Deloitte,
Accenture and IBM. The state has about 300,000 IT professionals
and the sector is also providing 12 lakh indirect jobs.
An Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) has also been
approved in Hyderabad, which will create an employment for 15 lakh
people over the next 25 years.
The ITIR will be coming up with an investment of Rs.2,300 crore in
external infrastructure. It will have 50,000 acres of IT and ITES
area.
Three hardware clusters are also proposed in Andhra Pradesh and
they would be the first under the new policy of the central
government.
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