The Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), the government-owned enterprises, played a major role in development of Hyderabad from a quiet place to an industrial hub. Furthermore, the role of PSUs cannot be ignored in enhancing the cosmopolitan profile of Hyderabad. Unlike other places in India, Hyderabad boasts a large number of PSUs from diversified sectors. This resulted in the cosmopolitan nature of the city, as many people from across India came to work in the PSUs located at Hyderabad.
PSUs also created demand for other services like housing, motor vehicles, schools, and eating places etc. They also helped the city to increase local tax revenue generation and thereby helped in the infrastructural development in the city.
PSUs and cosmopolitan Hyderabad
PSUs influenced the demographics of the city in a significant way. As Hyderabad hosted large number of PSUs, defense establishments, and defense & civil research institutes, it led to generation of large-scale employment, leading to the migration from outside states into Hyderabad.
The city has over 30 PSUs, of which, 10 are central government undertakings. The migrant people who came to do blue collar jobs as well as white collar jobs also brought their culture, traditions, cuisines and languages to the city. The culture of Hyderabad, which encouraged relationship of mutual respect among people along with freedom to follow their own beliefs, gave impetus to cosmopolitan culture. Over the years they mingled in the culture of Hyderabad resulting in a new cosmopolitan look.
The emergence of PSUs also gave impetus to various small scale and ancillary industries in Hyderabad, which again led to influx large number of people from outside. Foundation of PSUs in different areas in and around Hyderabad led to development of infrastructure like electricity, water, roads, etc. PSUs also developed the nearby regions in terms of planned townships, good basic facilities, transportation, schools, etc. The availability of good infrastructure also helped migrants to thrive in Hyderabad. Due to PSUs, other supporting sectors like education, health, hotel, banking, etc., also evolved.
Some of the prominent PSUs in Hyderabad are Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL), HAL, and NMDC. The PSU companies played pivotal role in industrial development, creating infrastructure, and in taking the economy ahead.
With increased urbanization and large number of people coming to Hyderabad, the status of people changed. A new type of upper middle class evolved which was cosmopolitan in nature due to its economic privilege. They were liberal and concentrated more on living in urban society. This upper middle class that developed, did white collared jobs, and for them good living conditions were more vital.
Prominent PSUs in Hyderabad
Some of the major PSUs like BHEL, BEL, HAL, NMDC, and HMT came up to Hyderabad in early 60s. Hyderabad also has various defense establishments like Air Force Academy in Dundigal, defense research institutes like DLRL and DRDL, and civil research institutes like CCMB. Various administrative institutes of national importance like Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) and National Police Academy (NPA), which has the responsibility to maintain administrative structure of country, are situated in Hyderabad. Institutes like National Remote Sensing Center (NRSC) and Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) situated in Hyderabad cater to various technologies based requirements. The headquarters of South Central Railway is also located in Secunderabad, Hyderabad that looks after railway service in Andhra Pradesh and some parts of other states.
Thus, the PSUs and central government institutions played a major role in development of Hyderabad. Although the PSUs in Hyderabad are not in limelight today, they played a very vital role in building strong base for industries.