Hyderabad: Is the TRS government firming up its mind to take back unutilised land from Infosys? It seems so because the land allotted to software major Infosys for a second campus by the previous Congress government located on the outskirts of Hyderabad has come under the scanner of the Telangana state government.
The previous Congress government of the undivided Andhra Pradesh, under the chief ministership of Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, had sanctioned 447 acres to Infosys in Pocharam in Ghatkesar mandal in 2007 to set up an IT park.
However, the company has utilised only 95 acres, after nearly 15 years of the allotment of land. Another 352 acres is lying vacant. The land was then allotted at a price of Rs 12 lakh per acre. The land price has now shot up to few crores of rupees per acre.
The Telangana state government is facing a land crunch on the city outskirts for allotment to IT industries and other industries. After the introduction of TS-iPASS online approval system through self-certification for industries within 21 days, demand for setting up industries, especially IT and IT-enabled services companies on the city outskirts, has shot up.
Software firms are now concentrated towards the western part of the city, popularly known as the Gachibowli IT corridor. There are no major government land parcels left in the western part of the city at present.
As a consequence, the state government had introduced a ‘look east policy’ last year to encourage the setting up of IT industries in the eastern part of the city, towards the Warangal highway. The land allotted to Infosys at Pocharam is towards the eastern corridor.
Several IT firms have already submitted applications to the industries department seeking land towards the eastern part, under the ‘look east policy’, to claim various exemptions announced by the state government. Subsequently, the state government has focussed on the unused land parcels allotted to IT firms by previous governments.
The TS Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC), the nodal agency for allotment of lands, had submitted a proposal to the state government to take back the unused land allotted to Infosys.
Official sources in the TSIIC, said, “following the TSIIC proposal, the government has appointed a committee to look into the issue. The committee was asked to visit the Infosys campus in Pocharam soon to inspect land utilisation and hold consultations with Infosys management over the handing over of unused land back to the government.”
However, the Infosys management is learnt to have written to the TSIIC expressing reservations over the moves to take back the land. The Infosys management urged the TSIIC not to compare Infosys with other companies, which failed to utilise lands on the ground that Infosys has “slew of future expansion plans” for which it needs land, and that all unused land would be kept for utilisation in future.
Official sources in the industries department responded, saying, “The state government will take a call based on the report submitted by the inspection committee, which was asked to visit the Infosys campus in a week or two.”
Similar attempts to resume unused land from Infosys was made during the Congress government under the chief ministership of Kiran Kumar Reddy in 2011. Then, the APIIC had issued notices to Infosys to cancel the land allotment, but later backtracked.
In its reply to the notice served by APIIC then, Infosys explained the reasons for its delay by saying the government had notified an SEZ in October 2007 and phase-1 was to be completed by 2008. However, environmental clearance got delayed until May 2009 and the state government could provide water connection to the site only in November 2010. All these factors contributed to the delay, it said.
