Category Archives: Business & Economy

TIDE signs incubation agreements with start-ups

The Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurship (TIDE) at the University of Hyderabad signed incubation agreements with three start-up companies – Neoscript Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Sapphire Technologies LLP, and Aapka Painter Solutions Pvt. Ltd. – on Wednesday.

The TIDE-UoH is providing seed funding as part of its incubation support. The start-ups can use the varsity’s infrastructure facilities, and will also get technical mentoring by the university’s faculty.

Neoscript Technologies Pvt. Ltd. is a platform aimed at improving consistency and efficiency in learning quality of codes by providing automated evaluation and timely feedback. Sapphire Technologies LLP, with its platform www.ekgeo.com, is a social media built on the principle of radio, radar and broadcasting, said a press release on Wednesday.

The third start-up, Aapka Painter Solutions Pvt. Ltd., streamlines tire painting process and standardises the experience of getting spaces painted through technology. The programme was chaired by UoH Vice-Chancellor Prof. Appa Rao Podile. TIDE and TBI are recognised incubators in the Start-up India initiative of the Government of India.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Staff Reporter / Hyderabad – June 09th, 2016

How Telangana is building brand Hyderabad

Behind Hyderabad’s bounce-back as a technology destination is its IT, industries and municipal administration minister, K.T. Rama Rao
Hyderabad’s lower real estate costs coupled with the city’s excellent infrastructure work in its favour compared with other metros such as Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi NCR. Photo: AFP
Hyderabad’s lower real estate costs coupled with the city’s excellent infrastructure work in its favour compared with other metros such as Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi NCR. Photo: AFP

Hyderabad:

The Deccan city of Hyderabad was almost written off as an investment destination when K. Chandrashekar Rao swept to power in Telangana in June 2014.

The new state was just born after four years of tumultuous struggle. The agitation, spearheaded by Rao, witnessed prolonged demonstrations and shutdown calls, blocked train and road services through the region, largely disrupting public life.

Rao’s diatribe against the settled population hailing from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, it was pointed out, would drive away multinationals that seek talent based on merit, without regard for one’s ancestral background.

It was feared that Hyderabad, Telangana’s economic powerhouse, would die a slow death if KCR, as Rao is known, ignored the city that had already fallen behind other Indian metros, thanks to a prolonged agitation for statehood. Many thus dismissed KCR & Co.’s assurances of turning around Hyderabad, whose brand image had taken a bad hit during the years of agitation.

Precisely 23 months after the state’s formation, three of the world’s top technology companies decided to set up base in Hyderabad—choosing it over other cities such as Bengaluru, Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) and Mumbai. Taxi aggregator Uber Technologies Inc., the world’s most valued start-up, opened its first service centre in Asia in Hyderabad in February.

Apple Inc. was the latest jewel in Hyderabad’s crown when it established its first development centre in India in the city, joining other high-profile tech companies from America’s West Coast that made Hyderabad their home.

Salesforce.com Inc., one of the world’s top cloud computing companies, will open its first centre of excellence in Hyderabad on 7 June.

Before Apple and Salesforce.com, search giant Google Inc. and online retailer Amazon.com Inc. announced that they would have their biggest campuses outside home base US, in Hyderabad. Amazon has already commenced construction of a campus, as big as three million sq.ft, which is set to open by 2019.

Together with Microsoft Corp. and Facebook Inc., which had offices in the city before 2014, five of the world’s top technology companies have started or are in the process of setting up a significant presence in the city.

“The state formation happened after a period of turbulence. The very first task was to set the record straight,” said Jayesh Ranjan, information technology secretary of Telangana government, in an interview. The government met industry leaders promising physical safety of their employees, projected a pro-business attitude and showcased Hyderabad’s innovative environment.

The toning down of the rhetoric by Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) helped in assuaging the concerns of information technology (IT) sector.

In fact, investors were cautious and adopted a wait-and-watch mode during the initial months after the country’s youngest state took birth.

“People were not sure how the new government will function, how things will actually improve. The party had not been in power in the past. So people were waiting to see how they will perform,” said Vasudevan Iyer, director of Hyderabad market for real estate consultancy Knight Frank India Pvt. Ltd. “When the state split happened there was a lot of ambiguity among people and stakeholders, but then the way the government in Hyderabad actually performed is commendable.”

Behind Hyderabad’s bounce-back as a technology destination is its IT, industries and municipal administration minister, K.T. Rama Rao (known as KTR), a smooth-talking, charismatic former marketing professional who returned from the US to join his father’s party in 2004. KTR is the son of KCR.

After some initial follies, the father-son duo began nurturing Hyderabad, assuaging concerns, promoting the city as an attractive investment destination, and wooing global companies and start-ups alike. It helped that KTR has related portfolios of IT and industries (to draw investments) and municipal administration (to rebuild brand Hyderabad and address infrastructure issues).

Bengaluru, the IT and start-up capital of the country that had an early mover advantage, was Hyderabad’s biggest competitor.

KTR and his team quickly realized that they could not beat Bengaluru easily at its game of software exporting. They went to the drawing table and identified opportunities where they could “drive the bus”, Ranjan said.

Data analytics, cloud technology, internet of things (IoT), gaming and animation, start-ups, data centers—areas that no one city in India can yet lay a claim to—were identified in the process.

The team also watched carefully for Bengaluru’s follies.

So, when Karnataka taxmen went after e-commerce firms in 2014, threatening to halt their businesses, Telangana officials went knocking on Amazon’s door. Amazon had already signed the dotted line to set up its campus in Bengaluru. But in the backdrop of tax troubles in Karnataka, Telangana officials promised a conducive regulatory environment to Amazon, wooing the company to the state.

Of course, they also presented Hyderabad as an attractive (and cheaper) alternative destination to Bengaluru whose infrastructure was already bursting at its seams. Apart from the office space, Amazon also set up its then biggest Indian warehouse spread across 280,000 sq.ft in Telangana. Flipkart soon followed, opening its biggest warehouse, spanning 220,000 sq. ft, near Hyderabad.

That was also how they wooed back Google, which had decided to set up its campus near Bengaluru. Google had initially planned to set up its campus in Hyderabad—the company was even allotted land in Hyderabad way back in 2007—but reconsidered its plan after the land it was allocated ran into legal issues. With successive governments unable to solve the legal tangle, Google decided to move to Bengaluru, only to realize the city’s inadequacies. The Telangana government moved in quickly at this point by allocating site from its land bank and issuing quick clearances to Google.

At the same time, the government is attractively packaging the state as a destination for new-age technology companies. While governments across the world are grappling with disruption to their traditional industries by taxi aggregators and home lodging sites such as Airbnb, the Telangana government is assuring start-ups of rolling in conducive regulatory policies to ensure their business model can operate in the state.

Uber was in the eye of the storm over a rape incident in Delhi by one of its drivers when it announced its plan to establish its first centre of excellence in Asia in Hyderabad to provide round-the-clock specialized support for “critical incidents that require immediate attention”. Taxi aggregators such as Uber, Ola and TaxiForSure were under government scrutiny on whether they should be regulated when Uber said it will invest $50 million in the city.

The biggest factor that sealed the deal in Telangana’s favour was the government’s offer to “work closely” with Uber to develop a new regulatory framework. Telangana’s transportation department evolved a framework to allow new-age online services like Ola and Uber to operate without any ambiguity.

The state’s IT department, on its part, is continually making sure that issues related to new-age tech companies are addressed amicably.

When the Telangana government recently considered a ban on surge pricing, on the lines of the Delhi government, on Ola and Uber, the state’s IT department intervened on their behalf to point out the economic rationale behind surge pricing. The state’s transport department relented.

Of course, the city’s biggest advantage is a readily available talent pool of engineers graduating from the likes of IIT, IIIT and BITS-Pilani, among other engineering schools around the city.

“With a pool of quality talent, state-of-the art infrastructure and a progressive government, the state was a natural choice for us to set up our largest campus in India here,” David Zapolsky, senior vice-president and general counsel (legal) of Amazon, said in a statement in March, while breaking ground for the facility.

Hyderabad’s lower real estate costs coupled with, what is often lauded as, the city’s excellent infrastructure work in its favour compared with other metros such as Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi NCR.

Last July, Ikea, the world’s largest furniture retailer, zeroed in on Hyderabad to purchase 13 acres of prime property at IT hub, Hitec City. Hyderabad was chosen over other cities such as Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi NCR for the company’s India debut.

“The difference between Bengaluru and Hyderabad is that Hyderabad offers twice the infrastructure of Bengaluru at half the cost,” said Ranjan.

KTR was quick to figure out the dynamics playing out in the global IT sphere. Even traditionally closeted companies such as Microsoft were embracing innovation and start-ups in a way never seen before, and the 39-year-old minister knew he needed to pitch the city as an innovation hub to make companies take Telangana seriously.

He sewed an arrangement between three of the biggest educational institutes in the city, Indian School of Business, Nalsar University of Law and International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT)-Hyderabad, to start a swanky incubator, T-Hub, close to the campuses of the big IT firms.

The incubator drew the likes of Microsoft chief executive officer (CEO) Satya Nadella and Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka to talk about innovation with the start-ups.

“For everybody (services companies and product development firms) the local innovation ecosystem is a key part of their consideration. Even if you want to attract a larger company, making sure there is an active thriving start-up ecosystem is a key part of that whole message,” Ramesh Loganathan, a recent president of local industry body, Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association, said. “It resonated well because some of the larger companies are looking at the city because we have projected a very strong R&D innovation start-up focus. They like to be operating in that environment.”

Sometimes it was just plain luck.

Telangana wasn’t even on the radar of plane maker Boeing Co. when a government delegation led by minister Rama Rao met the company’s executives in Washington DC during a tour last year.

Rama Rao and his team briefed Boeing about the state’s new industrial policy and how an aerospace ecosystem already exists in Hyderabad in the form of Indian government’s defence manufacturing installations and units of Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL), which has tie-ups with Sikorsky Aircraft Corp, Lockheed Martin Corp., RUAG Aviation AG and Pilatus Aircraft Ltd.

After a series of meetings, Boeing finally zeroed in on Hyderabad to make fuselage for Apache helicopters in collaboration with TASL. The company is expected to break ground in June, Ranjan said.

Telangana is also among the states being considered by plane maker Airbus Group SE to set up a final assembly line for Panther helicopter it plans to make in India in collaboration with Mahindra Defence Systems Ltd. The company plans to make India a global hub for Panther helicopter production.

“Airbus Group is evaluating Telangana and Andhra Pradesh among several other Indian states to select a site for setting up a final assembly line for the Panther helicopter in case we were to be awarded the Naval Utility Helicopter programme,” an Airbus spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

source: http://www.livemint.com / Live Mint / Home> E-paper / Home> Politics / by Yogendra Kalavalapalli / Friday – June 03rd, 2016

T-Hub outpost in US

Hyderabad :

IT minister KT Rama Rao has said that an outpost of the T-Hub will be set up in Silicon Valley in the United States.

Addressing a convention of investors and IT professionals at Silicon Valley on Wednesday, Rama Rao dwelt at length on Telangana government’s plans on investments, industries and innovation. The meeting was attended by prominent industrialists from Silicon Valley.

Rama Rao said the Telangana government too started T-Hub to encourage new thoughts and innovations. The largest incubator T-Hub outpost centre would be opened in Silicon Valley, the minister said.

He said that efforts were on to make start-ups as scale-ups. ‘’We need support and cooperation from TiE (a global network of entrepreneurs) and investors from Silicon Valley,” the minister said.

“We are interested to partner with Silicon Valley and TiE to attract more investments to Telangana,” Rama Rao said.

The minister said the state government took up digital literacy in a massive scale and is moving towards m-Governance from e-Governance aiming to take the administration to the masses.

Rama Rao is currently touring the North American country along with some senior officials.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Telangana / by Express News Service / June 02nd, 2016

IIIT-Hyderabad to fund three innovative startups

Hyderabad :

At a time when most of the startups are focusing on solving fairly shallow problems, Avishkar, the start-up accelerator programme of International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H) on Friday took three companies under its wings to encourage entrepreneurs who are into solving deep-tech problems.

Screened from about 140 applications across the world, the top three companies are all set to form the first batch of the six-month long programme. The selected startups will now work closely with the Avishkar team and the faculty members of IIIT-H labs and other partners over the next six months to get to a level of investment-readiness that will launch them to the next stage of their journey.

“We are a four-month-old company trying to build a virtual personal stylist for women. Through our app, we want to offer all the services that a stylist offers to women. In other words, we want to create artificial intelligence (AI) of a personal stylist. The best part about Avishkar is that unlike many accelerators, the programmes here are personalised for each and every startup and would be helpful for us to grow faster,” Komal Prajapati, founder, Fabulyst, said.

IIITtelangana31may2016

Aronin P, founder of Sastra Robotics, which made it to the first batch of Avishkar programme, said,“Our aim is to build next generation robotics arm that has special abilities and for that we need a fully equipped R&D lab and experienced people to guide us. Also, as this is an ambitious project, we need financial help at some point or the other. Through this programme, both these concerns are addressed.”

The programme facilitated by IIIT-Hyderabad Foundation, Co-Creation Consulting and 50K Ventures, aims to select 10 startups during the first year and each of the selected startups will receive `10 lakh seed funding.

Prof. Vasudeva Varma, Dean (R&D) said, “The Start-up ecosystem in India is currently very vibrant. However, most of these ventures cannot survive and be successful unless they have huge differentiation in terms of technology. With Avishkar, we will give these companies a massive edge by providing the required base of technology, mentorship, and talent on a need basis in addition to initial funding.”

Startups selected in 1st batch Fabulyst:

A start-up with a core team of data scientists, working on providing a superior and personalised search experience to women using advanced machine learning and AI technologies, thus creating a unique advantage in the online fashion market.

Sastra Robotics: Initially incubated at Startup Village, Kochi, the startup develops high-precision robots to automate and redefine hardware testing practices and has been successful in mimicking the human hand capabilities.

Endless Robotics: Founded by a team of students from BITS Pilani, this startup has already built intelligent wall painting robots to provide cheaper, faster and high-precision solutions to real estate owners. They are now working towards providing deeper image processing capabilities to their robots.

Deep Tech Accelerator

The programme focuses in the areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Intelligence (IA), and Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR). The onus is on improving human comfort using cutting-edge technology.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by V. Nirupa Sathya Sree / by Express News Service / May 28th, 2016

KTR gets rousing welcome from NRIs

After landing at Chicago airport on US soil, to a rousing welcome from non-resident Indians hailing from Telangana, Information Technology Minister K. T. Rama Rao on Tuesday launched into several meetings with VIPs including heads of companies.

In a busy schedule, he met Governor of Indiana, Mike Pence, Deputy Governor of Illinois, Trey Childress, and Consul-General of India, Dr. Ausaf Sayeed. He discussed potential areas of collaboration and cooperation between Illinois state and Telangana and outlined the salient features of the industrial policy of fledging State of India, including TSiPASS, the single window approval system.

Mr. Rao elaborated on investment opportunities in the information technology and communication, pharma and allied sectors. Mr. Trey was said to have expressed the interest of Illinois State to partner with Telangana on innovation. Also saying that he had heard a lot about the T-Hub, India’s biggest technology incubator, he said Chicago and Hyderabad shared a strong bond.

The Consul-General hosted a dinner at Chicago in honour of Mr. Rama Rao and the visiting delegation, after which the Minister held a series of meetings with heads of companies. Those he met included Chairman of the Redberry Corporation, Deepak Kanat, President of Abaris Capital Advisors, Omer Ahmed, Chairman, Genesis Pharmaceuticals, Monif Matouk and CEO of Safye Holdings Afi Hasan.

A press release said Eclat Health Solutions, a digital healthcare company, had come forward to invest US $ 15 million in Telangana, generating employment to about 1,000 people.

Several MoU were signed with representatives of these companies, in the presence of the Minister. Mr. Rama Rao also met Governor of Indiana, Mr. Mike Pence at Indianapolis later, also attending the Indianapolis-Hyderabad Sister Cities Committee meeting where he addressed a 500-strong gathering of NRIs hailing from Telangana.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – May 25th, 2016

Cook inaugurates Apple Maps development office in Hyderabad

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook (L) with Telangana CM K Chandra Sekhar Rao after inauguration of Apple's development office in Hyderabad on Thursday. / PTI
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook (L) with Telangana CM K Chandra Sekhar Rao after inauguration of Apple’s development office in Hyderabad on Thursday. / PTI

Says this investment will accelerate Maps development and create up to 4,000 jobs.

Apple Inc on Thursday announced the opening of a new office here that will focus on development of Maps for its products including iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.

The Californian tech giant said in a statement that this investment will accelerate Maps development and create up to 4,000 jobs.

Mum on quantum of investment

The company, however, did not disclose the quantum of investment that it intends to invest on the facility.

“We are thrilled to open this new office in Hyderabad which will focus on Maps development,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said.

“The talent here in the local area is incredible and we are looking forward to expanding our relationships and introducing more universities and partners to our platforms as we scale our operations,” he said.

Updating, adding new features

Apple has been continually updating and adding new features to Maps including 3D views, the Flyover feature and tools to help customers find convenient places to shop, eat and explore nearby areas, the statement said.

With iOS 9 Apple added Transit, offering a combination of trains, subways, buses and walking, which is already available for more than 300 cities around the world.

The new facility, located on the Waverock campus, will provide a world-class, LEED-certified home for the expanding Maps team, it added.

Honoured, says KCR

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has said the State is honoured that Apple chose Hyderabad as a home for its Maps development office.

“This will create thousands of jobs here and is a testament to our proactive approach, quality infrastructure and the excellent talent base we have in the region,” he said.

RMSI is a global IT services company providing GIS, modelling and analytics and software services.

‘One of the most innovative firms’

CEO of RMSI Anup Jindal said, “Apple is one of the most innovative companies in the world. We are very proud they chose us to partner with for this important project.”

“We are experts in geospatial data and we will be hiring thousands of people from the local area to support this effort,” Mr. Jindal said.

Apple supports over 6,40,000 iOS app developer jobs and other positions related to the iOS ecosystem across India, the statement said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National / PTI / Hyderabad – May 19th, 2016

State data to be in public domain

Hyderabad:

Much like the Centre, the Telangana government too plans to put out data pertaining to various departments in the public domain. On the lines of data.gov.in — the website on which the central government shares information — a single portal has been envisaged for state-related data.

The purpose of such a move is to make available to the public a huge cache of information that can be analysed or made use of. “Once such data is put up to be accessed by the public, there are endless possibilities on how it can be used for the benefit of society in general,” said Rakesh Reddy Dubbudu, founder of ‘Factly’ and co-convenor of National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI).

The Telangana ICT Policy Framework 2016, which was made public a month ago, clarified the government’s stance in favour of putting out data in the public domain. This was reiterated this time round by IT secretary Jayesh Rajan at the ‘Public Data Devthon’ oragnised by Factly in association with the Telangana government and T-Hub.

During the Devthon, groups of people demonstrated an analysis of how data from various departments, including the GHMC, could reveal crucial information regarding spending on public schemes. “Government data which can be given out to the public should be put up in real-time. Anyone can come up with suggestions or recommendations on how to rectify shortcomings in the functioning of various departments,” Dubbudu said. For instance, he said, if there were places where too many accidents were taking place, this could be analysed to come up with suggestions as to how to prevent the same.

Apart from the Centre, no other state government has put up much data in the public domain, although some annual reports are released by departments. While mentioning ‘Open data’ in its IT policy, the government said various departments were involved in collection, generation and updating of data on multiple issues collected using public funds. Such data should be readily available for citizens’ consumption. “Although individual departments share data for use by civil society and the private sector, there is a need for an open data policy that enables proactive data sharing by every department. This will not only result in greater transparency, but also help the government in better decision making,” the policy said.

According to the IT policy, the IT, Electronics and Communication (ITE&C) department, will formulate the open data policy based on best practices adopted in the national open data policy. The ITE&C department will also identify departments for the first phase of the open data roll out.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Hyderabad / TNN / May 18th, 2016

Healthcare startup raises $150,000

Hyderabad :

Life Circle Health Services, a T-Hub incubatee, announced here on Wednesday that it had raised an investment of USD 150,000 from a European company.

The funds will help Life Circle to deepen its services in the state capital as well as expand to the national capital region.

The startup will soon launch its services in New Delhi and aims to reach 20 cities in India by 2020. Apart from investment, GROUPE SOS, Europe’s leading healthcare service provider, will also be sharing technical knowledge and international best practices with Life Circle.

Jean-Marc Borello, founder-president of GROUPE SOS, said, “We are very excited to join hands with an Indian enterprise to develop home nursing services in India. GROUPE SOS has more than 30 years of experience in France where health services are among the best.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Telangana / by Express News Service / May 12th, 2016

Hyderabad to host conference on India’s COP21 commitments

Hyderabad :

The Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) has been selected by the United States Department of State to organise a conference focused on implementing India’s COP21 commitments to be held here on June 24-25.

The conference, ‘Future Is Now: India from COP21 to Reality’, would include international experts and practitioners, environmental NGOs, in-country development organisations, finance experts, Indian companies and philanthropic organisations as well as India’s top national and state decision-makers, a media statement from the U S Consulate General Hyderabad said.

“The participants will explore India’s key climate change issues and opportunities in light of India’s Paris commitments,” it said.

ISC is partnering with the Center for Environment and Development to present the conference, which will feature Indian and US experts on topics such as clean energy, energy efficiency, climate finance, resilience, climate mitigation, air pollution and waste reduction, the statement said.

The Department of State’s Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, Nisha Desai Biswal, was quoted as saying, “India is a vital player in addressing climate change and we look forward to increasing our partnership to expand clean energy deployment and access.”

Steve Nicholas, Vice President of Urban Programs at ISC, said, “The Paris Agreement is an incredibly important opportunity to reduce emissions and implement green development projects in India. Connecting US and Indian leaders to each other is critical because those professional relationships will continue to pay dividends.”

“We’re honoured to be working with our colleagues in India to understand their challenges, share what we’ve learned, and talk about what’s possible,” he said.

Conference participants, who may include leaders from local government, industry, NGOs, academics, and national government officials, would have the opportunity to connect with their peers and share challenges, solutions and resources, the statement added.

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source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Hyderabad / PTI / May 09th, 2016

At Malkanoor, farmers reap the benefits of dairy farming

Even as acute drought conditions in the State are forcing migration of farm labour in search of employment, this village in Bheemadevarapalli mandal has set an example by overcoming drought by taking to dairy sector as an alternate source of income.

An upland village sans irrigation sources, Mulkanoor has become a role model in the cooperative movement since 1956 with the launch of the Mulkanoor Cooperative Rural Bank and Marketing Society and has farmers who have overcome drought, thanks to the dairy units.

A majority of the population here, comprising about 10,000 people, took to dairy in the past two years to mitigate drought and are reaping the benefits. They supply over 1,500 litres of milk a day to the cooperative dairy and Karimnagar dairy. Besides, some hundreds of litres of milk per day are consumed locally, for a healthy life.

“I was unable to raise any crop on my three acres of land as the well got dried up due to drought since the last two years. I bought two milch animals by taking loan from the cooperative bank and am earning Rs. 200 per day by selling milk after covering input costs of fodder and cattle feed. My animals have stopped my migration from village and I am leading a comfortable life, says Chitkuri Yadagiri, happily.

“The dairy units are a ray of hope for farmers throughout the year. It protects the farmer during the drought and otherwise also by providing nutritious milk and manure,” says Bollampalli Swaroopa, who is rearing a milch animal, that fetches her daily income of Rs. 100 to Rs. 150. Recollecting the olden days where the dairy units were part of agriculture, she called upon farmers to take up dairy units for regular source of income even if there is no drought.

Village sarpanch Vanga Ravi proudly said there was no migration of labour ever since the dairy units have come up. He said farmers had taken to fodder cultivation with available water sources and reaping the benefits. Mulkanoor Cooperative Rural Bank chairman and former legislator A. Praveen Reddy said: We encourage farmers to take up dairy units by providing financial assistance as additional income generating source. Incidentally, they are a hit with farmers repaying the loans too.”

There has been no migration of labour ever since the dairy units have come up / Vanga Ravi, Village sarpanch.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindi / Home> National> Telangana / by K.M. Dayashankar / Mulkanoor (Karimnagar Dist) – May 06th, 2016