For a long time, the phrase “Telangana Rising” was dismissed as a slogan. Today, it is no longer rhetoric but a policy project backed by exports, investments, and welfare that reduces the cost of working. The challenge before the state is clear: can growth be spread across all districts, turned into jobs in multiple sectors, and made inclusive for women and young workers? The next 18 months will decide if Telangana consolidates a true “rising state” story.
The numbers tell their own story. The IT/ITeS sector remains the most visible pillar, with exports touching about Rs 2.7 lakh crore in FY 2024–25. This year it is Expected to cross Rs 3 lakh crore. Nearly 9.5 lakh professionals employed. Hiring momentum here has defied national slowdowns, feeding demand for college graduates, engineers, and roles in global capability centres. Vocational programmes are now being aligned to feed this demand in districts, ensuring opportunities do not remain city-centric.
Life sciences has become a second engine. Since late 2023, Telangana has drawn over Rs 54,000 crore in new pharma, med-tech, and vaccine investments, promising nearly two lakh jobs. Genome Valley is no longer just a showcase; the bigger task now is to translate these projects into district-level vendor networks and small-town employment. With international firms already betting on the state, Telangana is positioning itself as one of Asia’s emerging life-sciences hubs.
Aerospace and defence are also moving up the ladder. Global majors are expanding into Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul ( MRO) and avionics, signalling a shift from basic assembly to high-skill maintenance work. Such industries provide steady, higher-wage jobs for technicians — precisely the kind of outcomes that focused skilling programmes in engineering and polytechnic colleges are supposed to deliver.
Textiles and rural manufacturing remain crucial for inclusive growth. The Kakatiya Mega Textile Park in Warangal is being marketed to international investors, including Taiwanese firms in technical textiles and eco-friendly dyeing. If large anchors land, they will spark MSME clusters, women-led garment units, and thousands of non-farm jobs closer to home towns — a priority for the state’s inclusive development agenda.
Two structural bets underline Telangana’s ambition. The first is the proposed Fourth City or Future City — a 30,000-acre green field hub with net-pollution. Planned with corridors, logistics and housing, this project is designed to create a new growth pole away from existing urban sprawl. Its success depends on delivering trunk roads, serviced plots and airport connectivity on time, but its potential to pull industries into districts is undeniable.
The second is welfare redesigned as workforce support. Free household power under the Gruha Jyothi scheme is reaching over 50 lakh households, with the government paying Rs 1,800 crore to Discoms. Women’s free bus travel has already crossed 200 crore rides, saving families Rs 4,000–Rs 5,000 a month. The state has also disbursed Rs 9,000 crore to 70 lakh farmers in just nine days under Rythu Bharosa. These measures are not giveaways; they directly cut the cost of commuting, learning, and working — especially for women and the rural poor.
But demand-side growth will falter if supply-side capacity is weak. Telangana is embedding AI and vocational training into schools and colleges, training engineering students from their second and third year so graduates are industry-ready. TASK and similar initiatives have the reach, but outcomes must be tracked publicly — placements, wage levels, employer satisfaction — to avoid training without jobs.
Inclusion is another test. Women’s industrial clusters — with plug-and-play sheds, creches, labs and procurement linkages — can transform SHGs into MSMEs. But they require demand-side support: government procurement, buyer tie-ups in textiles and food processing, and credit pipelines for first-time entrepreneurs. Only then will they translate into durable livelihoods.
The path ahead is not abstract. The state must
Publish a district-wise jobs dashboard with gender and sectoral data.
Deliver visible Fourth City milestones — trunk roads, first anchor tenant, serviced plots.
Operationalise at least one women-centric industrial park in every district.
Link skills programmes directly to internships and wage outcomes.
Telangana’s advantage is that demand is real — in IT, life sciences, aerospace and textiles — while fiscal support through power, transport, and agriculture schemes is already in place. What remains is hard execution in districts, logistics, and credible employer partnerships.
If the state succeeds, Telangana’s next chapter will not be defined by one skyline. It will be written in the towns and villages where graduates, women entrepreneurs, and technicians find good work close to home. That, more than any slogan, is the true meaning of a “Rising Telangana.”
Duddilla Sridhar Babu,
IT & Industries Minister