IT giant’s 22-storey building in Financial District to be largest campus outside US

By | Published: 12:51 am 3:52 pm

Hyderabad: Hyderabad is all set to get a landmark tower that will rise 22 floors and provide employment to about 13,000 persons in the heart of the city’s IT hub, if all goes well with the plans of Google.

Occupying a vantage point in the prime Financial District, the proposed campus which recently was recommended for environment clearance, when ready, will be Google Inc’s biggest campus outside its US headquarters. The facility proposed with an investment of Rs.1,000 crore promises to be a landmark in itself housing 13,000 employees.

As per environmental impact assessment report submitted by Google India’s subsidiary Mahataa Information India Private Limited, the building will be a single block with three basements meant mostly for parking, ground floor and 22 floors, while the total solar PV capacity installed at the site stands at 300 KW.

Environment clearance

The agreement to set up a huge campus was signed between government of Telangana and Google in 2015 when the then IT Minister, K T Rama Rao, met Google officials on a visit to the US. Under the agreement, the government has allocated 7.2 acres to the company.

Now, Google has received the recommendation for environment clearance from the Telangana State Environment Impact Assessment Authority/State Expert Appraisal Committee, which was part of the Pollution Control Board in October 2018. With the EC in place, Google is expected to soon start construction of its first company-owned campus in Asia.

Currently, Google is operating out of a leased facility in Kondapur wherein it employs about 7,000 people engaged in cutting-edge work in innovative technologies. In India, Google has four offices, which include Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Gurgoan. At the time of signing the agreement, Google had proposed completing the project in two-and-a-half years.

Home to top 5 companies

At the signing of the agreement, K T Rama Rao had said, “Excited to announce that Google and government of Telangana have inked an MoU to build their largest campus (outside US).”

Telangana is home to the largest campuses of top five global companies that include Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Apple. In addition, it also boasts of a host of other MNCs having their major operations in the State and are expanding vigorously.