Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the '' de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the

Musi River Musi may refer to: * Musi River (Indonesia) * Musi River (India), Telangana * Moosy River, Andhra Pradesh, India * Musi language, a Malay language spoken in Indonesia * Angelo Musi (1918–2009), American basketball player * Agostino de' Musi, real ...

, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much of Hyderabad is situated on hilly terrain around

artificial lakes A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

, including the Hussain Sagar lake, predating the city's founding, in the north of the city centre. According to the

2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information ...

, Hyderabad is the fourth-most populous city in India with a population of residents within the city limits, and has a population of residents in the metropolitan region, making it the sixth-most populous metropolitan area in India. With an output of 74 billion, Hyderabad has the fifth-largest urban economy in India. Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah established Hyderabad in 1591 to extend the capital beyond the fortified Golconda. In 1687, the city was annexed by the Mughals. In 1724, Asaf Jah I, the Mughal viceroy, declared his sovereignty and founded the

Asaf Jahi dynasty The Asaf Jahi was a Muslim dynasty that ruled the Kingdom of Hyderabad. The family came to India in the late 17th century and became employees of the Mughal Empire. They were great patrons of Persian culture, language, and literature, the famil ...

, also known as the

Nizams The Nizams were the rulers of Hyderabad from the 18th through the 20th century. Nizam of Hyderabad (Niẓām ul-Mulk, also known as Asaf Jah) was the title of the monarch of the Hyderabad State ( divided between the state of Telangana, M ...

. Hyderabad served as the imperial capital of the Asaf Jahi's from 1769 to 1948. As capital of the princely state of Hyderabad, the city housed the British Residency and

cantonment A cantonment (, , or ) is a military quarters. In Bangladesh, India and other parts of South Asia, a ''cantonment'' refers to a permanent military station (a term from the British India, colonial-era). In military of the United States, United Stat ...

until Indian independence in 1947. Hyderabad was annexed by the

Indian Union Union of India or Indian Union may refer to: * The country of India * Dominion of India (1947–1950) * The Government of India, whose legal name is "Union of India" as per Article 300 of the Indian constitution * Political integration of India ...

in 1948 and continued as a capital of

Hyderabad State Hyderabad State () was a princely state located in the south-central Deccan region of India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and t ...

from 1948 to 1956. After the introduction of the

States Reorganisation Act of 1956 The States Reorganisation act, 1956 was a major reform of the boundaries of India's states and territories, organising them along linguistic lines. Although additional changes to India's state boundaries have been made since 1956, the States ...

, Hyderabad was made the capital of the newly formed Andhra Pradesh. In 2014, Andhra Pradesh was split to form the state of Telangana, and Hyderabad became the joint capital of the two states with a transitional arrangement scheduled to end in 2024. Since 1956, the city has housed the

Rashtrapati Nilayam Rashtrapati Nilayam (literally the "President's House") formerly known as Residency House is the official retreat of the President of India located in Hyderabad, Telangana, where the President stays for at least two weeks during winter and condu ...

, the winter office of the president of India. Relics of the Qutb Shahi and Nizam eras remain visible today; the Charminar has come to symbolise the city. By the end of the early modern era, the Mughal Empire had declined in the Deccan, and the Nizam's patronage attracted men of letters from various parts of the world. A distinctive culture arose from the amalgamation of local and migrated artisans, with Painting, handicraft, jewellery, literature, dialect and clothing are prominent still today. Through its cuisine, the city is listed as a creative city of gastronomy by UNESCO. The

Telugu film industry Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Telugu cinema is based in Film Nagar, Hy ...

based in the city was the country's second-largest producer of motion pictures . Until the Hyderabad was known for the pearl industry and was nicknamed the "City of Pearls", and was the only trading centre for Golconda diamonds in the world. Many of the city's historical and traditional

bazaar A bazaar () or souk (; also transliterated as souq) is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, North Africa and India. However, temporary open markets elsewhere, suc ...

s remain open. Hyderabad's central location between the Deccan Plateau and the Western Ghats, and industrialisation throughout the attracted major Indian research, manufacturing, educational and financial institutions. Since the 1990s, the city has emerged as an Indian hub of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. The formation of the special economic zones of Hardware Park and HITEC City, dedicated to information technology, has encouraged leading multinationals to set up operations in Hyderabad.

History

Toponymy

The name ''Hyderabad'' means "Haydar's city" or "lion city", from ''

haydar Haydar ( ar, حيدر), also spelt Hajdar, Hayder, Heidar, Haider, Heydar, and other variants, is an Arabic male given name, also used as a surname, meaning "lion". In Islamic tradition, the name is primarily associated with Ali ibn Abi Talib ( ...

'' 'lion' and '' ābād'' 'city', after Caliph

Ali Ibn Abi Talib ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...

, also known as Haydar because of his lion-like valour in battle. The city was originally called ''Baghnagar'' "city of gardens", and later acquired the name ''Hyderabad''. The European travellers von Poser and Thévenot found both names in use in the 17th century. One popular legend suggests that the founder of the city, Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, named it ''Bhagya-nagar'' after Bhagmati, a local nautch (dancing) girl whom he married. She converted to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

and adopted the title ''Hyder Mahal''. The city would have been named ''Hyderabad'' in her honour. * * * *

Early and medieval history

The discovery of

Megalithic A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The ...

burial sites and cairn circles in the

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

s of Hyderabad, in 1851 by

Philip Meadows Taylor Colonel Philip Meadows Taylor, (25 September 1808 – 13 May 1876), an administrator in British India and a novelist, made notable contributions to public knowledge of South India. Though largely self-taught, he was a polymath, working alternat ...

, a polymath in the service of the Nizam, had provided evidence that the region in which the city stands has been inhabited from the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

. Archaeologists excavating near the city have unearthed Iron Age sites that may date from 500 BCE. The region comprising modern Hyderabad and its surroundings was ruled by the

Chalukya dynasty The Chalukya dynasty () was a Classical Indian dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties. The earliest dynast ...

from 624 CE to 1075 CE. Following the dissolution of the Chalukya empire into four parts in the 11th century, Golconda—now part of Hyderabad—came under the control of the

Kakatiya dynasty The Kakatiya dynasty (IAST: Kākatīya) was an Indian dynasty that ruled most of eastern Deccan region comprising present day Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and parts of eastern Karnataka and southern Odisha between 12th and 14th centuries. Th ...

from 1158, whose seat of power was at Warangal— northeast of modern Hyderabad. The Kakatiya ruler

Ganapatideva Ganapati-deva (r. c. 1199-1262) was the longest reigning monarch of the Kakatiya dynasty of southern India. He brought most of the Telugu-speaking region in present-day Andhra Pradesh and Telangana under the Kakatiya influence by war or diplomacy. ...

1199–1262 built a hilltop outpost—later known as Golconda Fort—to defend their western region. Govardhan II, Visit of sufi-singer Shir Muhammad to Abul Hasan Qutb Shah, ca

Govardhan II, Visit of sufi-singer Shir Muhammad to Abul Hasan Qutb Shah, ca

The Kakatiya dynasty was reduced to a vassal of the

Khalji dynasty The Khalji or Khilji (Pashto: ; Persian: ) dynasty was a Turco-Afghan dynasty which ruled the Delhi sultanate, covering large parts of the Indian subcontinent for nearly three decades between 1290 and 1320.Alauddin Khalji of the

Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate was an Islamic empire based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for 320 years (1206–1526).

. This lasted until 1321, when the Kakatiya dynasty was annexed by Malik Kafur, Allaudin Khalji's general. During this period, Alauddin Khalji took the '' Koh-i-Noor'' diamond, which is said to have been mined from the Kollur Mines of Golconda, to Delhi. Muhammad bin Tughluq succeeded to the Delhi sultanate in 1325, bringing Warangal under the rule of the Tughlaq dynasty,

Malik Maqbul Tilangani Malik Maqbul (Mala Yugandharudu ) , also referred to as Khan-i-Jahan Maqbul Tilangani< ...

was appointed its governor. In 1336 the regional chieftains

Musunuri Nayakas The Musunuri Nayakas were warrior kings of 14th-century South India who were briefly significant in the region of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Musunuri Kapaya Nayaka is said to have taken a leadership role among the Andhra chieftains and driv ...

—who revolted against the Delhi sultanate in 1333—took Warangal under their direct control and declared it as their capital. In 1347 when Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah, a governor under bin Tughluq, rebelled against Delhi and established the

Bahmani Sultanate The Bahmani Sultanate, or Deccan, was a Persianate Sunni Muslim Indian Kingdom located in the Deccan region. It was the first independent Muslim kingdom of the Deccan,

in the Deccan Plateau, with

Gulbarga Kalaburagi, formerly known as Gulbarga, is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kalaburagi district and is the largest city in the region of North Karnataka (Kalyana-Karnataka). Kalaburagi is 6 ...

— west of Hyderabad—as its capital, both the neighboring rulers Musunuri Nayakas of Warangal and Bahmani Sultans of Gulbarga engaged in many wars until 1364–65 when a peace treaty was signed and the Musunuri Nayakas ceded Golconda Fort to the Bahmani Sultan. The Bahmani Sultans ruled the region until 1518 and were the first independent Muslim rulers of the Deccan. In 1496 Sultan Quli was appointed as a Bahmani governor of Telangana, he rebuilt, expanded and

fortified A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

the old mud-fort of Golconda and named the city "Muhammad nagar". In 1518, he revolted against the Bahmani Sultanate and established the

Qutb Shahi dynasty The Qutb Shahi dynasty also called as Golconda Sultanate (Persian: ''Qutb Shāhiyān'' or ''Sultanat-e Golkonde'') was a Persianate Shia Islam dynasty of Turkoman origin that ruled the sultanate of Golkonda in southern India. After the coll ...

. The fifth Qutb Shahi sultan, Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, established Hyderabad on the banks of the Musi River in 1591, to avoid water shortages experienced at Golconda. During his rule, he had the Charminar and Mecca Masjid built in the city. Mir Momin Astarabadi, the prime minister in the Qutub Shahi period, developed the plan of the city of Hyderabad, including the location of the Charminar and

Char Kaman Char Kaman (literally "meaning four gates") are four historical structures in Hyderabad, India. It is located near Charminar. After the completion of Charminar, at about 75m feet to its north, four lofty arches known as Charkaman were built in 1 ...

. On 21 September 1687, the Golconda Sultanate came under the rule of the Mughal emperor

Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...

after a year-long siege of the Golconda Fort. The annexed city "Hyderabad" was renamed ''Darul Jihad'' (House of War), whereas its state "Golconda" was renamed ''Deccan Suba'' (Deccan province) and the capital was moved from Golconda to Aurangabad, about northwest of Hyderabad. *

Modern history

In 1713, Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar appointed

Mubariz Khan Mubariz Khan was the Mughal governor of Gujarat and Hyderabad state. He was the governor of Golconda from 1713 to 1724 until he was killed during the Battle of Shakar Kheda where he fought against Nizam-ul-Mulk, Asaf Jah I. His is known to have ...

as Governor of Hyderabad. During his tenure, he fortified the city and controlled the internal and neighbouring threats. In 1714 Farrukhsiyar appointed Asaf Jah I as Viceroy of the Deccan—(administrator of six Mughal governorates) with the title ''Nizam-ul-Mulk'' (Administrator of the Realm). In 1721, he was appointed as Prime Minister of the Mughal Empire. * His differences with the court nobles led him to resign from all the imperial responsibilities in 1723 and leave for Deccan. Under the influence of Asaf Jah I's opponents, Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah issued a decree to

, to stop Asaf Jah I which resulted in the

Battle of Shakar Kheda The Battle of Sakhar kherda took place on 11 October 1724 at Sakhar Kherda (Sakhar Kherda or Sakhar Kherda) in Berar, 80 miles from Aurangabad between Nizam-ul-Mulk and Mubariz Khan, Subedar of Deccan. Prelude In 1714, Mughal emperor Farru ...

. In 1724, Asaf Jah I defeated Mubariz Khan to establish autonomy over the '' Deccan'', named the region ''

Hyderabad Deccan Hyderabad State () was a princely state located in the south-central Deccan region of India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and t ...

'', and started what came to be known as the

. Subsequent rulers retained the title ''Nizam ul-Mulk'' and were referred to as Asaf Jahi Nizams, or

Nizams of Hyderabad The Nizams were the rulers of Hyderabad from the 18th through the 20th century. Nizam of Hyderabad (Niẓām ul-Mulk, also known as Asaf Jah) was the title of the monarch of the Hyderabad State ( divided between the state of Telangana, M ...

. The death of Asaf Jah I in 1748 resulted in a period of political unrest as his sons and grandson— Nasir Jung (1748–1750),

Muzaffar Jang Muhyi ad-Din Muzaffar Jang Hidayat (died 13 February 1751) was the ruler of Hyderabad State, Hyderabad from 1750 until his death in 1751. His official name was ''Nawab Hidayat Muhi ud-din Sa'adu'llah Khan Bahadur, Muzaffar Jang, Nawab Subadar o ...

(1750-1751) and Salabat Jung (1751-1762)—contended for the throne backed by opportunistic neighbouring states and colonial foreign forces. The accession of Asaf Jah II, who reigned from 1762 to 1803, ended the instability. In 1768 he signed the

Treaty of Masulipatam The Northern Circars (also spelt Sarkars) was a division of British India's Madras Presidency. It consisted of a narrow slip of territory lying along the western side of the Bay of Bengal from 15° 40′ to 20° 17′ north latitude, in the pre ...

—by which the East India Company in return for a fixed annual rent, got the right to control and collect the taxes at Coromandel Coast. * * * In 1769 Hyderabad city became the formal capital of the Asaf Jahi Nizams. In response to regular threats from Hyder Ali (Dalwai of Mysore),

Baji Rao I Baji Rao I (18 August 1700 – 28 April 1740), born as Visaji, also known as Bajirao Ballal (Pronunciation: ad͡ʒiɾaːʋ bəlːaːɭ, was the 7th Peshwa of the Maratha Empire. During his 20-year tenure as a Peshwa, he defeated Nizam-ul-M ...

( Peshwa of the Maratha Empire), and Basalath Jung (Asaf Jah II's elder brother, who was supported by

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

General the Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau), the Nizam signed a subsidiary alliance with the East India Company in 1798, allowing the

British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...

to be stationed at Bolarum (modern

Secunderabad Secunderabad, also spelled as Sikandarabad (, ), is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It ...

) to protect the state's capital, for which the Nizams paid an annual maintenance to the British. Until 1874 there were no modern industries in Hyderabad. With the introduction of railways in the 1880s, four factories were built to the south and east of Hussain Sagar lake, and during the early 20th century, Hyderabad was transformed into a modern city with the establishment of transport services, underground drainage, running water, electricity, telecommunications, universities, industries, and Begumpet Airport. The

ruled the

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...

of Hyderabad during the British Raj.

Post-Independence

After India gained independence, the Nizam declared his intention to remain independent rather than become part of the

or newly formed Dominion of Pakistan. The Hyderabad State Congress, with the support of the Indian National Congress and the

Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as Cawnpore) on 26 December 1925. H ...

, began agitating against Nizam VII in 1948. On 17 September that year, the Indian Army took control of Hyderabad State after an invasion codenamed Operation Polo. With the defeat of his forces, Nizam VII capitulated to the Indian Union by signing an Instrument of Accession, which made him the '' Rajpramukh'' (Princely Governor) of the state until it was abolished on 31 October 1956. Between 1946 and 1951, the Communist Party of India fomented the

Telangana uprising The Telangana Rebellion popularly known as Telangana Sayuda Poratam (Telugu : తెలంగాణ సాయుధ పోరాటం) of 1946–51 was a communist-led insurrection of peasants against the princely state of Hyderabad in the r ...

against the

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...

lords of the

Telangana region Telangana (; , ) is a state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh-largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India with a geographical area of and 35, ...

. The Constitution of India, which became effective on 26 January 1950, made Hyderabad State one of the part B states of India, with Hyderabad city continuing to be the capital. In his 1955 report ''Thoughts on Linguistic States'',

B. R. Ambedkar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served a ...

, then chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution, proposed designating the city of Hyderabad as the second capital of India because of its amenities and strategic central location. On 1 November 1956 the states of India were reorganised by language. Hyderabad state was split into three parts, which were merged with neighbouring states to form

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The nine

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

- and Urdu-speaking districts of Hyderabad State in the Telangana region were merged with the Telugu-speaking Andhra State to create Andhra Pradesh, with Hyderabad as its capital. Several protests, known collectively as the Telangana movement, attempted to invalidate the merger and demanded the creation of a new Telangana state. Major actions took place in 1969 and 1972, and a third began in 2010. The city suffered several explosions: one at Dilsukhnagar in 2002 claimed two lives; terrorist bombs in

May May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...

and August 2007 caused communal tension and riots; and two bombs exploded in February 2013. On 30 July 2013 the government of India declared that part of Andhra Pradesh would be split off to form a new Telangana state and that Hyderabad city would be the capital city and part of Telangana, while the city would also remain the capital of Andhra Pradesh for no more than ten years. On 3 October 2013 the Union Cabinet approved the proposal, and in February 2014 both houses of Parliament passed the

Telangana Bill The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act of 2014, commonly known as the Telangana Act, is an Act of Indian Parliament that bifurcated the state of Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and the residuary Andhra Pradesh state, as an outcome of the Telanga ...

. With the final assent of the President of India, Telangana state was formed on 2 June 2014.

Geography

Hyderabad is south of Delhi, southeast of Mumbai, and north of Bangalore by road. It is situated in the southern part of Telangana in southeastern India, along the banks of the

, a tributary of Krishna River located on the Deccan Plateau in the northern part of South India. Greater Hyderabad covers , making it one of the largest metropolitan areas in India. With an average altitude of , Hyderabad lies on predominantly sloping terrain of grey and pink granite, dotted with small hills, the highest being Banjara Hills at . The city has numerous lakes sometime referred to as ''sagar'', meaning "sea". Examples include artificial lakes created by dams on the Musi, such as Hussain Sagar (built in 1562 near the city centre),

Osman Sagar Osman Sagar is a reservoir in the Indian city of Hyderabad. The lake is around 46 km², and the reservoir is around 29 km², with total level of 1,790 feet and a capacity of 3.9 tmc ft. History Osman Sagar was created by damming the M ...

and Himayat Sagar. , the city had 140 lakes and 834 water tanks (ponds).

Climate

Hyderabad has a tropical wet and dry climate ( Köppen ''Aw'') bordering on a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen ''BSh''). The annual mean temperature is ; monthly mean temperatures are . Summers (March–June) are hot and humid, with average highs in the mid-to-high 30s Celsius; maximum temperatures often exceed between April and June. The coolest temperatures occur in December and January, when the lowest temperature occasionally dips to . May is the hottest month, when daily temperatures range from ; December, the coldest, has temperatures varying from . Heavy rain from the south-west summer monsoon falls between June and October, supplying Hyderabad with most of its mean annual rainfall. Since records began in November 1891, the heaviest rainfall recorded in a 24-hour period was on 24 August 2000. The highest temperature ever recorded was on 2 June 1966, and the lowest was on 8 January 1946. The city receives 2,731 hours of sunshine per year; maximum daily sunlight exposure occurs in February.

Conservation

Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra)- Male & female in Hyderabad, AP W IMG 7268

Hyderabad's lakes and the sloping terrain of its low-lying hills provide habitat for an assortment of flora and fauna. , the tree cover is 1.7% of the total city area, a decrease from 2.7% in 1996. The forest region in and around the city encompasses areas of ecological and biological importance, which are preserved in the form of

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

s, zoos, mini-zoos and a wildlife sanctuary.

Nehru Zoological Park Nehru Zoological Park (also known as YouTube Zoo or Zoo Park) is a zoo located near Mir Alam Tank in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It is one of the most visited destinations in Hyderabad. History Nehru Zoological Park's construction was started ...

, the city's one large zoo, is the first in India to have a lion and tiger safari park. Hyderabad has three national parks (

Mrugavani National Park Mrugavani National Park is a national park located in Hyderabad, Telangana State, India. It is situated at Chilkur in Moinabad mandal, 20 km from MGBS and covers an area of or 1211 acres. It is home to a 600 different types of plant li ...

Mahavir Harina Vanasthali National Park Mahavir Harina Vanasthali National Park is a deer national park located in Vanasthalipuram , Saheb Nagar, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It is spread over 3605 acres. It is the largest green lung space in the city of Hyderabad. History The park ...

and

Kasu Brahmananda Reddy National Park Kasu Brahmananda Reddy National Park is a national park located in Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The park has an approximate area of . The palace complex was given to Prince Mukarram Jah on his coronation by h ...

), and the

Manjira Wildlife Sanctuary Manjira wildlife sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary and reservoir located in the Sangareddy district of Telangana State, India. Originally a crocodile sanctuary developed to protect the vulnerable species mugger crocodile, today it is home to more ...

is about from the city. Hyderabad's other environmental reserves are: Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy Botanical Gardens,

Ameenpur Lake Ameenpur is a small lake in Sangareddy District in the Indian state of Telangana and on the edge of the city of Hyderabad. It is the first body of water in India to be recognized as a Biodiversity Heritage Site and is the first biodiversity site t ...

, Shamirpet Lake, Hussain Sagar, Fox Sagar Lake,

Mir Alam Tank Mir Alam Tank is a reservoir in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It is located to the south of Musi river. It was the primary source of drinking water to Hyderabad before Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar were built. It is connected to National Highway ...

and Patancheru Lake, which is home to regional birds and attracts seasonal

migratory birds Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by ...

from different parts of the world. * * * * * Organisations engaged in environmental and wildlife preservation include the

Telangana Forest Department The Ministry of State for Forest and Environment, is a government ministry of Telangana. It is headed by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests. The primary function of this department is protection, conservation and management of forests i ...

, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, the

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is an international organization which conducts agricultural research for rural development, headquartered in Patancheru (Hyderabad, Telangana, India) with several r ...

(ICRISAT), the

Animal Welfare Board of India The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), headquartered at Ballabhgarh in Haryana state, is a statutory advisory body advising the Government of India's Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying(Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairy ...

, the Blue Cross of Hyderabad and the University of Hyderabad.

Administration

Common capital status

According to the

Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act of 2014, commonly known as the Telangana Act, is an Act of Indian Parliament that bifurcated the state of Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and the residuary Andhra Pradesh state, as an outcome of the Telanga ...

part 2 Section 5: "(1) On and from the appointed day, Hyderabad in the existing State of Andhra Pradesh, shall be the common capital of the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh for such period not exceeding ten years. (2) After the expiry of the period referred to in sub-section (1), Hyderabad shall be the capital of the State of Telangana and there shall be a new capital for the State of Andhra Pradesh." The same sections also define that the common capital includes the existing area designated as the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation under the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act, 1955. As stipulated in sections 3 and 18(1) of the Reorganisation Act, city MLAs are members of the Telangana state assembly.

Local government

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) oversees the civic infrastructure of the city, there are six administrative zones of GHMC: South Zone–( Charminar), East Zone–(

L. B. Nagar Lal Bahadur Nagar, commonly known as L. B. Nagar, is a commercial and residential hub in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was once a Municipality in Ranga Reddy district. Demographics India census, L.B. Nagar had a population of 261,987. Males ...

), West Zone–( Serilingampally), North Zone–(

Kukatpally Kukatpally is a suburb located in north western part of Hyderabad in the Indian state of Telangana. It is the headquarters of Balanagar mandal in Malkajgiri revenue division of Medchal-Malkajgiri district. It was a municipality prior to its mer ...

), Northeast Zone–(

) and Central Zone–(

Khairatabad Khairatabad is a neigbbourhood in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It is a mandal in the Secunderabad Revenue division of Hyderabad District. This is a Zone in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. There are five circles in this zone namely M ...

); these zones consist of 30 "circles", which together encompass 150 municipal wards. Each ward is represented by a corporator, elected by popular vote, the city has 7,400,000 voters of which 3,850,000 are male and 3,500,000 are female. The corporators elect the Mayor, who is the titular head of GHMC; executive powers rest with the Municipal Commissioner, appointed by the state government. The GHMC carries out the city's infrastructural work such as building and maintenance of roads and drains, town planning including construction regulation, maintenance of municipal markets and parks, solid waste management, the issuing of birth and death certificates, the issuing of trade licenses, collection of property tax, and community welfare services such as mother and child healthcare, and pre-school and non-formal education. The GHMC was formed in April 2007 by merging the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) with 12 municipalities of the Hyderabad,

Ranga Reddy Ranga Reddy district ( R. R. district) is a district in the Indian state of Telangana. The district headquarters is located at Lakdikapool, Hyderabad. The district was named after the former deputy chief minister of the United Andhra Pradesh, K ...

and Medak districts covering a total area of . The

Secunderabad Cantonment Board Secunderabad Cantonment Board is the civic administrative agency of Secunderabad cantonment area. Geographically, it lies in the twin cities of Hyderabad-Secunderabad. Secunderabad Cantonment Board is India’s second largest cantonment board, af ...

is a civic administration agency overseeing an area of , where there are several military camps. The Osmania University campus is administered independently by the university authority. Appointed in February 2021, Gadwal Vijayalakshmi of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is serving as the Mayor of GHMC. In Hyderabad police jurisdiction is divided into three commissionerates: Hyderabad (established in 1847 AD, an oldest police commissionerate in India ),

Cyberabad The Hyderabad Information Technology and Engineering Consultancy City, abbreviated as HITEC City, is an Indian information technology, engineering, health informatics, and bioinformatics, financial business district located in Hyderabad, Tel ...

, and

Rachakonda Rachakonda Fort is a historic fort located in Rachakonda, Yadadri Bhongir district of Telangana, India. It was built by the Recherla Nayaka king Anapotanayaka in the 14th century AD. Till that time the Recherla Nayakas had their capital at Anu ...

, each headed by a commissioner of police, who are Indian Police Service (IPS) officers. The Hyderabad police is a division of the

Telangana Police The Telangana State Police Department is the law enforcement agency for the state of Telangana in India. It has jurisdiction concurrent with the 33 revenue districts of the state. The police force was created from the remnants of the Andhra Pra ...

, under the state Home Ministry. The jurisdictions of the city's administrative agencies are, in ascending order of size: the Hyderabad Police area, Hyderabad district, the GHMC area ("Hyderabad city"), and the area under the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA). The HMDA is an apolitical urban planning agency that covers the GHMC and its suburbs, extending to 54 ''

mandals A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

'' in five districts encircling the city. It coordinates the development activities of GHMC and suburban municipalities and manages the administration of bodies such as the

Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) was established on 1 November 1989, in Hyderabad, India. It looks for the supply of water to the household and sewerage Sewerage (or sewage system) is the infrastructure that co ...

(HMWSSB). Hyderabad is the seat of the Government of Telangana, Government of Andhra Pradesh and the President of India's winter retreat

, as well as the Telangana High Court and various local government agencies. The Lower City Civil Court and the Metropolitan Criminal Court are under the jurisdiction of the High Court. The GHMC area contains 24 State Legislative Assembly constituencies, which form five constituencies of the Lok Sabha (the

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

of the Parliament of India).

Utility services

The HMWSSB (Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewage Board) regulates rainwater harvesting, sewerage services, and water supply. In 2005, the HMWSSB started operating a water supply pipeline from Nagarjuna Sagar Dam to meet increasing demand. The Telangana Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (TSPDCL) manages electricity supply. , there were 15 fire stations in the city, operated by the Telangana State Disaster and Fire Response Department. The government-owned India Post has five head post offices and many sub-post offices in Hyderabad, which are complemented by private courier services.

Pollution control

Hyderabad produces around 4,500 tonnes of solid waste daily, which is transported from collection units in Imlibun,

Yousufguda Yousufguda ( te, యూసఫ్ గూడ) is a neighbourhood in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It is a major residential suburb. Due to its proximity to the IT hub near Madhapur, it has become a more affordable alternative to other areas in the ...

and Lower Tank Bund to the dumpsite in Jawaharnagar. Disposal is managed by the Integrated Solid Waste Management project which was started by the GHMC in 2010. Rapid urbanisation and increased economic activity has led to increased

industrial waste Industrial waste is the waste produced by industrial activity which includes any material that is rendered useless during a manufacturing process such as that of factories, mills, and mining operations. Types of industrial waste include dirt and ...

, air, noise and water pollution, which is regulated by the

Telangana Pollution Control Board The Telangana Pollution Control Board is an ministry of Government of Telangana. It is body of the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of the State of Telangana, India. The board is charged with enforcing laws related to environ ...

(TPCB). The contribution of different sources to air pollution in 2006 was: 20–50% from vehicles, 40–70% from a combination of vehicle discharge and road dust, 10–30% from industrial discharges and 3–10% from the burning of household rubbish. Deaths resulting from atmospheric particulate matter are estimated at 1,700–3,000 each year. * * The city's "VIP areas", the Assembly building, Secretariat, and Telangana chief minister's office, have particularly low

air quality index An air quality index (AQI) is used by government agencies to communicate to the public how polluted the air currently is or how polluted it is forecast to become. AQI information is obtained by averaging readings from an air quality sensor, whi ...

ratings, suffering from high levels of PM2.5's. Ground water around Hyderabad, which has a hardness of up to 1000 ppm, around three times higher than is desirable, is the main source of drinking water but the increasing population and consequent increase in demand has led to a decline in not only ground water but also river and lake levels. This shortage is further exacerbated by inadequately treated

effluent Effluent is wastewater from sewers or industrial outfalls that flows directly into surface waters either untreated or after being treated at a facility. The term has slightly different meanings in certain contexts, and may contain various pollut ...

discharged from industrial treatment plants polluting the water sources of the city.

Healthcare

The Commissionerate of Health and Family Welfare is responsible for planning, implementation and monitoring of all facilities related to health and preventive services. –11, the city had 50 government hospitals, 300 private and charity hospitals and 194 nursing homes providing around 12,000 hospital beds, fewer than half the required 25,000. For every 10,000 people in the city, there are 17.6 hospital beds,, the census city population was 6,809,970 and there were 12,000 available hospital beds, giving the derived rate. 9 specialist doctors, 14 nurses and 6 physicians. The city has about 4,000 individual clinics. Private clinics are preferred by many residents because of the distance to, poor quality of care at and long waiting times in government facilities, The cities surveyed were Delhi, Meerut, Kolkata, Indore, Mumbai, Nagpur, Chennai and Hyderabad. despite the high proportion of the city's residents being covered by government health insurance: 24% according to a National Family Health Survey in 2005. , many new private hospitals of various sizes were opened or being built. Hyderabad has outpatient and inpatient facilities that use Unani, homoeopathic and

Ayurvedic Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population rep ...

treatments. In the 2005 National Family Health Survey, it was reported that the city's total fertility rate is 1.8, which is below the replacement rate. Only 61% of children had been provided with all basic vaccines ( BCG,

measles Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...

and full courses of polio and DPT), fewer than in all other surveyed cities except Meerut. The infant mortality rate was 35 per 1,000 live births, and the mortality rate for children under five was 41 per 1,000 live births. The survey also reported that a third of women and a quarter of men are overweight or obese, 49% of children below 5 years are

anaemic Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, th ...

, and up to 20% of children are underweight, while more than 2% of women and 3% of men suffer from diabetes.

Demographics

When the GHMC was created in 2007, the area occupied by the municipality increased from to . Consequently, the population increased by 87%, from 3,637,483 census to 6,809,970 census, 24% of which are migrants from elsewhere in India, making Hyderabad the nation's fourth most populous city. * , the population density is and the Hyderabad urban agglomeration had a population of 7,749,334 making it the sixth most populous urban agglomeration in the country. census, there are 3,500,802 male and 3,309,168 female citizens—a sex ratio of 945 females per 1000 males, higher than the national average of 926 per 1000. Among children aged years, 373,794 are boys and 352,022 are girls—a ratio of 942 per 1000. Literacy stands at 83% (male 86%; female 80%), higher than the national average of 74.04%. The socio-economic strata consist of 20% upper class, 50% middle class and 30% working class.

Ethnicity

Referred to as "Hyderabadi", the residents of Hyderabad are predominantly

and

Urdu speaking Native speakers of Urdu are spread across South Asia. The vast majority of them are Muslims of the Hindi–Urdu Belt of northern India, followed by the Deccani people of the Deccan plateau in south-central India (who speak Deccani Urdu) and the M ...

people, with minority

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

, Sindhi, Kannada,

Memon Memon may refer to: Ethnic group and language * Memon people, an ethnic group originating in the ancient Sindh (modern day Pakistan) * Memoni language, the language of Memon people historically associated with Kathiawar, Gujarat, India People wit ...

, Nawayathi, Malayalam,

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

, Marwari,

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

and Uttar Pradeshi communities. * *

Hyderabadi Muslims Hyderabadi Muslims, also referred to as Hyderabadis are a community of Deccani people, who are part of a larger ethnic group of Urdu-speaking Muslims, from the area that used to be the princely state of Hyderabad in the regions of Marathwad ...

are a unique community who owe much of their history, language, cuisine, and culture to Hyderabad, and the various dynasties who previously ruled. Hadhrami Arabs,

African Arabs Afro-Arabs are Arabs of full or partial Black African descent. These include populations within mainly the Sudanese, Emiratis, Yemenis, Saudis, Omanis, Sahrawis, Mauritanians, Algerians, Egyptians and Moroccans, with considerably long esta ...

, Armenians, Abyssinians, Iranians, Pathans and Turkish people are also present; these communities, of which the Hadhrami Arabs are the largest, declined after

became part of the Indian Union, as they lost the patronage of the Asaf Jahi Nizams.

Religion

Hindus are in the majority. Muslims form a very large minority, and are present throughout the city and predominate in and around old Hyderabad. There are also Christian, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist and Parsi communities and iconic churches, mosques and

temples A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

. census, the religious make-up of Greater Hyderabad was: Hindus (64.9%), Muslims (30.1%), Christians (2.8%), Jains (0.3%), Sikhs (0.3%) and Buddhists (0.1%); 1.5% did not state any religion. ''On this page, select "Andhra Pradesh" from the download menu. Data for "GHMC (M Corp. + OG)" is at row 11 of the downloaded excel file.''

Languages

and Urdu are both official languages of the city, and most Hyderabadis are bilingual. The Telugu dialect spoken in Hyderabad is called Telangana Mandalika, and the Urdu spoken is called Deccani. English is a "Secondary official language" used monumentally in business and administration, and it is an important medium of instruction in education and publications. A significant minority speak other languages, including Hindi,

, Kannada,

, Marwari,

and

Slums

In the greater metropolitan area, 13% of the population live below the poverty line. According to a 2012 report submitted by GHMC to the World Bank, Hyderabad has 1,476 slums with a total population of 1.7 million, of whom 66% live in 985 slums in the "core" of the city (the part that formed Hyderabad before the April 2007 expansion) and the remaining 34% live in 491 suburban tenements. About 22% of the slum-dwelling households had migrated from different parts of India in the last decade of the 20th century, and 63% claimed to have lived in the slums for more than 10 years. Overall literacy in the slums is and female literacy is . A third of the slums have basic service connections, and the remainder depends on general public services provided by the government. There are 405 government schools, 267 government-aided schools, 175 private schools, and 528 community halls in the slum areas. According to a 2008 survey by the Centre for Good Governance, 87.6% of the slum-dwelling households are nuclear families, 18% are very poor, with an income up to per annum, 73% live below the poverty line (a standard poverty line recognised by the Andhra Pradesh Government is per annum), 27% of the chief wage earners (CWE) are

casual labour Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private pr ...

and 38% of the CWE are illiterate. About 3.7% of the slum children aged 5–14 do not go to school and 3.2% work as

child labour Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such e ...

, of whom 64% are boys and 36% are girls. The largest employers of child labour are street shops and construction sites. Among the working children, 35% are engaged in hazardous jobs.

Cityscape

Neighbourhoods

The historic city established by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah on the southern side of the Musi River forms the heritage region of Hyderabad called the '' Purana Shahar'' (Old City), while the "New City" encompasses the urbanised area on the northern banks. The two are connected by many bridges across the river, the oldest of which is Purana Pul—("old bridge") built in 1578 AD. Hyderabad is twinned with neighbouring

, to which it is connected by Hussain Sagar. Many historic and heritage sites lie in south central Hyderabad, such as the Charminar, Mecca Masjid,

Salar Jung Museum The Salar Jung Museum is an art museum located at Dar-ul-Shifa, on the southern bank of the Musi River, India, Musi River in the city of Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It is one of the List of museums in India, notable National Museums of India. ...

Nizam Museum Nizam's Museum or H.E.H Nizam's Museum is a museum located in Hyderabad at Purani Haveli, a palace of the erstwhile Nizams. This museum showcases the gifts that the last Nizam of Hyderabad State, Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII received on his silve ...

, Telangana High Court, Falaknuma Palace, Chowmahalla Palace and the traditional retail corridor comprising the Pearl Market,

Laad Bazaar Laad Bazaar or Choodi Bazaar is a market located in Hyderabad, India. It is located on one of the four main roads that branch out from the Charminar. ''Laad'' meaning lacquer, is used to make bangles, on which artificial diamonds are studde ...

and Madina Circle. North of the river are hospitals, colleges, major railway stations and business areas such as Begum Bazaar, Koti, Abids,

Sultan Bazar Sultan Bazaar is an old commercial market in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It lies between the commercial areas of Abids and Koti. It was previously known as the residency bazaar. Later it was named after the nawab of that area, Syed Sultanuddin ...

and

Moazzam Jahi Market Moazzam Jahi Market is a fruit market in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Named after Moazzam Jah- the second son of Mir Osman Ali Khan History It was constructed in 1935 during the reign of the last Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan. It was named after ...

, along with administrative and recreational establishments such as the Reserve Bank of India, the

Telangana Secretariat Telangana Secretariat situated at Hyderabad, is the administrative office of the employees of the Government of Telangana in India. The Telangana government on 15 September 2022 has decided to name the new Secretariat complex as Dr. B. R. Ambed ...

, the

India Government Mint The India Government Mint operates four mints in the country for the production of coins: * Mumbai, Maharashtra * Kolkata, West Bengal * Hyderabad, Telangana * Noida, Uttar Pradesh History Under The Coinage Act, 1906, the Government of Indi ...

, the

Telangana Legislature The Telangana Legislature is the state legislature of Telangana. State legislature The Telangana Legislature is currently bicameral. # The lower house is called the Telangana Legislative Assembly. At present the Legislative Assembly consists o ...

, the

Public Gardens A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...

, Shahi Masjid, the Nizam Club, the

Ravindra Bharathi Ravindra Bharathi is an auditorium located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was named after Rabindranath Tagore. History On 23 March 1960, the then Governor of Uttar Pradesh and a former Chief minister of Andhra State, Bezawada Gopala Re ...

, the State Museum, the

Birla Temple Birla Mandir (Birla Temple) refers to different Hindu temples or Mandirs built by the Birla family, in different cities across India. All these temples are magnificently built, some of them in white marble or in sandstone. The temples are ge ...

and the Birla Planetarium. * * North of central Hyderabad lie Hussain Sagar, Tank Bund Road,

Rani Gunj ''Rani'' in Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, sometimes spelled ''Ranee'', is a Hindu/Sanskrit feminine given name. The term is the female form of the term for princely rulers in South and Southeast Asia and applies equally to the wife of a ...

and the Secunderabad railway station. Most of the city's parks and recreational centres, such as

Sanjeevaiah Park Sanjeevaiah Park is a public greenspace and park in the heart of Hyderabad, India. Built on along the banks of Hussain Sagar lake, the park is named after Damodaram Sanjivayya, an erstwhile Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. The park is manag ...

Indira Park Indira Park is a public greenspace and park in the heart of Hyderabad, India. The foundation stone for the Indira Park was laid during September 1975 by Late Faqruddin Ahmed, the then president of India and it was open for the people in the yea ...

, Lumbini Park,

NTR Gardens NTR Gardens is a small public, urban park of adjacent to Hussain Sagar lake in Hyderabad, India, Hyderabad, India. It is named after the former Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, N. T. Rama Rao. Constructed in several phases since 1999, the area ...

, the Buddha statue and Tankbund Park are located here. * In the northwest part of the city there are upscale residential and commercial areas such as Banjara Hills,

Jubilee Hills Jubilee Hills is an affluent suburban neighbourhood in Western part of Hyderabad, Telangana. It is one of the most expensive commercial and residential locations in India with prime land prices fetching up to 300,000 ($4015) per square yard. A t ...

Begumpet Begumpet ("Begum's Place") is a part of Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Begumpet is named after the daughter of the sixth Nizam (Mahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI), Basheer Unnisa Begum, who received it as part of her wedding dowry when ...

Khairtabad Khairatabad is a neigbbourhood in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It is a mandal in the Secunderabad Revenue division of Hyderabad District. This is a Zone in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. There are five circles in this zone namely ...

Tolichowki Toli chowki is a neighbourhood in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The name Tolichowki comes from the Urdu word 'Toli', meaning 'troupe', and 'Chowki', meaning 'post'. It is close to the IT corridor like Gachibowli, Madhapur, Manikonda and Kondapu ...

, Jagannath Temple and Miyapur. The northern end contains industrial areas such as

, Sanathnagar,

Moosapet Moosapet is a neighbourhood in Hyderabad, India, And also a part of Greater Hyderabad. The suburb is from KPHB Colony and from Madhapur. Kukatpally Y junction is located in this area. It is administered as Ward No. 117 of the Greater Hyderabad ...

, Balanagar,

Patancheru Patancheru is located in the north western end of Hyderabad. It is an industrial zone located about 32 km from the city centre on the Hyderabad-Solapur highway, and around 18 km from HITEC City. Earlier, it was the headquarters of Bi ...

and Chanda Nagar. The northeast end is dotted with residential areas such as Malkajgiri, Neredmet,

A. S. Rao Nagar A. S. Rao Nagar, also known as Dr. A. S. Rao Nagar, is a major commercial and residential neighbourhood of Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It is located in the north eastern side of the city falling under Kapra Village & Mandal , Medchal-Malkajgiri ...

and Uppal. In the eastern part of the city lie many defence research centres and Ramoji Film City. The "Cyberabad" area in the southwest and west of the city, consisting of Madhapur and Gachibowli has grown rapidly since the 1990s. It is home to information technology and bio-pharmaceutical companies and to landmarks such as Hyderabad Airport,

Himayath Sagar Himayat Sagar is an artificial lake about from Hyderabad in Telangana, India. It lies parallel to a larger artificial lake Osman Sagar. The storage capacity of the reservoir is 2.9 tmc ft. History The construction of reservoirs on the Esi, a ...

and

Landmarks

Heritage buildings constructed during the

Qutb Shahi The Qutb Shahi dynasty also called as Golconda Sultanate (Persian: ''Qutb Shāhiyān'' or ''Sultanat-e Golkonde'') was a Persianate Shia Islam dynasty of Turkoman origin that ruled the sultanate of Golkonda in southern India. After the coll ...

and Nizam eras showcase Indo-Islamic architecture influenced by Medieval,

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

and

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

styles. After the 1908 flooding of the Musi River, the city was expanded and civic monuments constructed, particularly during the rule of Mir Osman Ali Khan (the VIIth Nizam), whose patronage of architecture led to him being referred to as the maker of modern Hyderabad. In 2012, the government of India declared Hyderabad the first "Best heritage city of India". Qutb Shahi architecture of the 16th and early 17th centuries followed classical Persian architecture featuring domes and colossal arches. * The oldest surviving Qutb Shahi structure in Hyderabad is the ruins of the Golconda Fort built in the 16th century. Most of the historical bazaars that still exist were constructed on the street north of Charminar towards the fort. The Charminar has become an icon of the city; located in the centre of old Hyderabad, it is a square structure with sides long and four grand arches each facing a road. At each corner stands a -high minaret. The Charminar, Golconda Fort and the Qutb Shahi tombs are considered to be monuments of national importance in India; in 2010 the Indian government proposed that the sites be listed for UNESCO World Heritage status. Among the oldest surviving examples of Nizam architecture in Hyderabad is the Chowmahalla Palace, which was the seat of royal power. It showcases a diverse array of architectural styles, from the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

Harem to its Neoclassical royal court. The other palaces include Falaknuma Palace (inspired by the style of Andrea Palladio), Purani Haveli, King Kothi Palace and

Bella Vista Palace Bella Vista is a royal palace of the Nizam during the existence of Hyderabad State, now located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It is an Indo-European building standing on a verdant campus. The building's French architect named it Bella Vist ...

all of which were built at the peak of Nizam rule in the 19th century. During Mir Osman Ali Khan's rule, European styles, along with Indo-Islamic, became prominent. These styles are reflected in the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture seen in many civic monuments such as the Hyderabad High Court,

Osmania Hospital Osmania General Hospital (OGH) is one of the oldest hospitals in India located at Afzal Gunj, Hyderabad and is named after its founder – Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam of Hyderabad. It is run by the Government of Telangana, and is one o ...

City College City college may refer to: In the United States * Community college, a type of educational institution sometimes called a ''junior college'' or a ''city college'' in the United States * City College of New York ** 137th Street – City College (IR ...

and the

Kacheguda railway station Kacheguda railway station (station code: KCG) is one of the three Central Stations in Hyderabad City of Telangana in India. It is currently operated by the South Central Railway zone of Indian Railways. The station was first built during the per ...

, all designed by

Vincent Esch Vincent Jerome Esch, (20 July 1876 – 9 December 1950) was a British architect who worked in India. He is regarded as a pioneer of the Indo-Saracenic architecture, Indo-Sarcenic architectural style, which developed during the British rule in the ...

. Other landmark structures of the city constructed during his regin are the State Central Library, the Telangana Legislature, the State Archaeology Museum,

Jubilee Hall A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...

, and Hyderabad railway station. Other landmarks of note are Paigah Palace,

Asman Garh Palace Asman Garh Palace is a palace located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. ''Asman'' means "sky", and ''Garh'' means "home", since the palace was located so high on a hillock. The palace hosted a museum displaying archaeological relics. After that co ...

Basheer Bagh Palace Basheer Bagh Palace or Bashir Bagh Palace was a palace located in Hyderabad, Telangana, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was constructed by Sir Asman Jah, a Paigah family, Paigah noble and Prime Minister of Hyderabad state (1887–1894). Hist ...

Errum Manzil ''Errum Manzil'' or Iram Manzil is an expansive palace standing in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was built around the year 1870 by Nawab Safdar Jung Musheer-ud-daula Fakhrul Mulk, a nobleman of Hyderabad state. It is located on top of a hillock ...

and the

Spanish Mosque The Spanish Mosque, also known as ''Masjid Iqbal Ud Daula'' or Jam e Masjid ''Aiwan-E-Begumpet'', is a mosque within the Paigah Palace, Begumpet, Hyderabad, India. The construction of the mosque was started by the fifth Paigah Amir, H.E. Nawa ...

, all constructed by the Paigah family.

Economy

Recent estimates of the economy of Hyderabad's metropolitan area have ranged from 40-74 billion ( PPP GDP), and have ranked it either fifth- or sixth- most productive metro area of India. * * Hyderabad is the largest contributor to the gross domestic product (GDP), tax and other revenues, of Telangana, and the sixth largest deposit centre and fourth largest credit centre nationwide, as ranked by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in June 2012. Its per capita annual income in 2011 was . , the largest employers in the city were the state government (113,098 employees) and central government (85,155). According to a 2005 survey, 77% of males and 19% of females in the city were employed. The service industry remains dominant in the city, and 90% of the employed workforce is engaged in this sector. Hyderabad's role in the pearl trade has given it the name "

City of Pearls ''City of Pearls: A Tale of Neglected People'' is a 2011 Documentary film produced by the Hyderabad chapter of Students Islamic Organisation of India. The 38-minute documentary captures the paradox between the high-rise buildings, malls, flyove ...

" and up until the 18th century, the city was the only global trading centre for diamonds known as Golconda Diamonds. * Industrialisation began under the Nizams in the late 19th century, helped by railway expansion that connected the city with major ports. From the 1950s to the 1970s, Indian enterprises, such as

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) is an Indian central public sector undertaking. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Heavy Industries, Government of India. It is based in New Delhi, India. Established in 1956, BHEL is India' ...

(BHEL), Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC), National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), Bharat Electronics (BEL),

Electronics Corporation of India Limited Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) ( ईलेक्ट्रॉनिक्स कॉर्पोरेशन ऑफ ईन्डिया लिमिटेड ( ) ) is a Public Sector Enterprise under the Department of Atomi ...

(ECIL), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL),

Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology ( hi, कोशिकीय एवं आण्विक जीवविज्ञान केंद्र, IAST: ''Kośikīya evam āṇavik jīvavijñāna kendra'') or CCMB is an Indian fundamen ...

(CCMB), Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) and Andhra Bank (AB) were established in the city. The city is home to Hyderabad Securities formerly known as Hyderabad Stock Exchange (HSE), and houses the regional office of the

Securities and Exchange Board of India The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is the regulatory body for securities and commodity market in India under the ownership of Ministry of Finance within the Government of India. It was established on 12 April 1988 as an executive ...

(SEBI). In 2013, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) facility in Hyderabad was forecast to provide operations and transactions services to BSE- Mumbai by the end of 2014. The growth of the financial services sector has helped Hyderabad evolve from a traditional manufacturing city to a cosmopolitan industrial service centre. Since the 1990s, the growth of information technology (IT), IT-enabled services (ITES), insurance and financial institutions has expanded the service sector, and these primary economic activities have boosted the ancillary sectors of trade and commerce, transport, storage, communication, real estate and retail. , the IT exports from Hyderabad were 1,45,522 crore (19.66 billion), the city houses 1500 IT and ITES companies that provide 628,615 jobs. Hyderabad's commercial markets are divided into four sectors: central business districts, * sub-central business centres, neighbourhood business centres and local business centres. Many traditional and historic

s are located throughout the city, Laad Bazaar being the prominent among all is popular for selling a variety of traditional and cultural antique wares, along with gems and pearls. * Laad Bazaar bridal ware shops view

The establishment of

Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL) is a public sector pharmaceutical, bulk drug manufacturing and drug discovery company owned by the Indian government, headquartered in New Delhi, and located in Hyderabad, Gurgaon and Rishikesh.: ...

(IDPL), a public sector undertaking, in 1961 was followed over the decades by many national and global companies opening manufacturing and research facilities in the city. * , the city manufactured one third of India's bulk drugs and 16% of biotechnology products, contributing to its reputation as "India's pharmaceutical capital" and the " Genome Valley of India". * * Hyderabad is a global centre of information technology, for which it is known as ''Cyberabad'' (Cyber City). , it contributed 15% of India's and 98% of Andhra Pradesh's exports in IT and ITES sectors and 22% of NASSCOM's total membership is from the city. The development of HITEC City, a township with extensive technological infrastructure, prompted multinational companies to establish facilities in Hyderabad. The city is home to more than 1300 IT and ITES firms that provide employment for 407,000 individuals; the global conglomerates include Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Google, IBM, Yahoo!,

Oracle Corporation Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation headquartered in Austin, Texas. In 2020, Oracle was the third-largest software company in the world by revenue and market capitalization. The company sells da ...

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

, Facebook, CISCO,* * * and major Indian firms including

Tech Mahindra Tech Mahindra is an Indian multinational information technology services and consulting company. Part of the Mahindra Group, the company is headquartered in Pune and has its registered office in Mumbai. Tech Mahindra is a 6.0 billion company w ...

, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Polaris, Cyient and Wipro. In 2009 the World Bank Group ranked the city as the second best Indian city for doing business. The city and its suburbs contain the highest number of special economic zones of any Indian city. The

Automotive industry in Hyderabad The Automotive industry in Hyderabad was introduced in the year 1930's and manufacturing started with the establishment of Hyderabad Allwyn which use to manufacture auto-components and assemble Albion CX9 buses for Hyderabad State Railways. It w ...

is also emerging and making it an automobile hub. Automobile companies including as

Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company ** Hyundai ...

Hyderabad Allwyn Hyderabad Allwyn Limited, established in 1942, was a Hyderabad State government engineering and white goods manufacturing company involved in manufacture of automobiles, trucks, scooters, bus Coachbuilder, coach building, refrigerators and Watch ...

Praga Tools Praga Tools Limited was established in May, 1943 as Praga Tools Corporation Limited to manufacture machine tools with its headquarters at Kavadiguda, Secunderabad, Telangana, India. It was renamed as Praga Tools Limited in 1963 and was transfe ...

, HMT Bearings, Ordnance Factory Medak, Deccan Auto and Mahindra & Mahindra have units in the Hyderabad economic zone.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (FCA) was an Italian-American multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles, commercial vehicles, auto parts and production systems. The Italian holding company Exor was the largest ...

, Maruti Suzuki and

Triton Energy Triton Energy Limited () (formerly known as Triton Energy Corporation prior to March 25, 1996) was one of the largest independent oil and natural gas exploration and production companies in the United States. Triton was founded in Dallas, Texas by ...

will invest in Hyderabad. Like the rest of India, Hyderabad has a large

informal economy An informal economy (informal sector or grey economy) is the part of any economy that is neither taxed nor monitored by any form of government. Although the informal sector makes up a significant portion of the economies in developing countrie ...

that employs 30% of the labour force. According to a survey published in 2007, it had 40–50,000 street vendors, and their numbers were increasing. Among the street vendors, 84% are male and 16% female, and four fifths are "stationary vendors" operating from a fixed pitch, often with their own stall. Most are financed through personal savings; only 8% borrow from moneylenders. Vendor earnings vary from to per day. Other unorganised economic sectors include dairy, poultry farming, brick manufacturing, casual labour and domestic help. Those involved in the informal economy constitute a major portion of urban poor.

Culture

Hyderabad emerged as the foremost centre of culture in India with the decline of the Mughal Empire. After the fall of Delhi in 1857, the migration of performing artists to the city particularly from the north and west of the Indian subcontinent, under the patronage of the Nizam, enriched the cultural milieu. This migration resulted in a mingling of North and South Indian languages, cultures and religions, which has since led to a co-existence of Hindu and Muslim traditions, for which the city has become noted. * A further consequence of this north–south mix is that both

and Urdu are official languages of Telangana. The mixing of religions has resulted in many festivals being celebrated in Hyderabad such as

Ganesh Chaturthi Ganesh Chaturthi (ISO: ), also known as Vinayak Chaturthi (), or Ganeshotsav () is a Hindu festival commemorating the birth of the Hindu god Ganesha. The festival is marked with the installation of Ganesha's clay idols privately in homes and p ...

Diwali Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali ( IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It is ...

and

Bonalu Bonalu is a traditional Hindu festival centered on the Goddess Mahakali from Telangana. This festival is celebrated annually in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, as well as in other parts of the state. It is celebrated in the month ...

of Hindu tradition and

Eid ul-Fitr , nickname = Festival of Breaking the Fast, Lesser Eid, Sweet Eid, Sugar Feast , observedby = Muslims , type = Islamic , longtype = Islamic , significance = Commemoration to mark the end of fasting in Ramadan , dat ...

and Eid al-Adha by Muslims. Traditional Hyderabadi garb reveals a mix of Muslim and Hindu influences with men wearing ''

sherwani Sherwani is a long-sleeved outer coat worn by men in South Asia. Like the Western frock coat it is fitted, with some waist suppression; it falls to below the knees and is buttoned down the front. It can be collarless, have a shirt-style collar, ...

'' and '' kurta– paijama'' and women wearing ''

khara dupatta Khada dupatta (upright stole) is the traditional wedding dress of Hyderabadi Muslim brides in the Indian subcontinent. It is an elaborate wedding ensemble comprising a kurta (tunic), chooridaar (extra-long slim pants that gather at the ankles ...

'' and '' salwar kameez''. Most Muslim women wear '' burqa'' and ''

hijab In modern usage, hijab ( ar, حجاب, translit=ḥijāb, ) generally refers to headcoverings worn by Muslim women. Many Muslims believe it is obligatory for every female Muslim who has reached the age of puberty to wear a head covering. While ...

'' outdoors. In addition to the traditional Hindu and Muslim garments, increasing exposure to western cultures has led to a rise in the wearing of western style clothing among youths.

Literature

In the past,

Qutb Shah Quṭb Shāh, formally known as Sayyid ʿAbdullāh ʿAwn ibn Yaʿlā al-ʿAlawī al-Qādirī ( fa, عبداللہ عَوْن ابنِ یعلیٰ) (c. 1028–1099), was a ruler, medieval Persian Sufi Muslim preacher, and a religious scholar.Moh ...

i rulers and Asaf Jahi Nizams attracted artists, architects, and men of letters from different parts of the world through patronage. The resulting ethnic mix popularised cultural events such as '' mushairas'' (poetic symposia), '' Qawwali'' (devotional songs) and ''

Dholak ke Geet Dholak ke Geet songs are Urdu folk songs from Hyderabad Deccan, sung by Hyderabadi women during daily routine chores or during wedding festivities. The folk songs are also known as "Lok Geet" and were popular as Chakkhi ke Geet (''chakkhi''–mill ...

'' (traditional folk songs). The Qutb Shahi dynasty particularly encouraged the growth of

Deccani literature Deccani literature ( ur, , ) The literature was produced in Deccani dialect of Urdu language writing system. The earliest forms of Deccani literature are in the form of Sufi and Bhakti texts with poetic genres. The timeline of Deccani literature is ...

leading to works such as the ''

Deccani Masnavi ''Deccani Masnavi'' ( Deccani: دکنی مثنوی; ''dakkʰinī mat̲h̲nawī'') are name of the poem written in rhyming couplets in Deccani Urdu. It originated during the Bahmani Sultanate of Deccan (now South India) in the early 14th century. ...

'' and '' Diwan poetry'', which are among the earliest available manuscripts in Urdu. ''

Lazzat Un Nisa ''Lazzat Un Nisa'' (from ar, لذّتُ النّسا ''The Pleasure of Woman'') is an erotic Indian anecdote,''Lazzat Un Nisa'',translated by Jane Fine, 2002, Classex Books Private Limited, , 121 pages. retrieved Dec 06, 2006 in the Urdu and Pers ...

'', a book compiled in the 15th century at Qutb Shahi courts, contains erotic paintings with diagrams for secret medicines and stimulants in the eastern form of ancient sexual arts. The reign of the Asaf Jahi Nizams saw many literary reforms and the introduction of Urdu as a language of court, administration and education. In 1824, a collection of Urdu ''

Ghazal The ''ghazal'' ( ar, غَزَل, bn, গজল, Hindi-Urdu: /, fa, غزل, az, qəzəl, tr, gazel, tm, gazal, uz, gʻazal, gu, ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry. A ghazal may be understood as a ...

'' poetry, named ''Gulzar-e-Mahlaqa'', authored by

Mah Laqa Bai Mah Laqa Bai (7 April 1768 – August 1824), born Chanda Bai, and sometimes referred to as Mah Laqa Chanda, was an Indian 18th century Urdu poet, courtesan and philanthropist based in Hyderabad. In 1824, she became the first female poet to hav ...

—the first female Urdu poet to produce a Diwan—was published in Hyderabad. Hyderabad has continued with these traditions in its annual Hyderabad Literary Festival, held since 2010, showcasing the city's literary and cultural creativity. Organisations engaged in the advancement of literature include the Sahitya Akademi, the Urdu Academy, the Telugu Academy, the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language, the Comparative Literature Association of India, and the Andhra Saraswata Parishad. Literary development is further aided by state institutions such as the State Central Library, the largest public library in the state which was established in 1891, and other major libraries including the

Sri Krishna Devaraya Andhra Bhasha Nilayam Sri Krishna Devaraya Bhasha Nilayam earlier known as Sri Krishna Devaraya Andhra Bhasha Nilayam (Telugu: శ్రీ కృష్ణ దేవరాయాంధ్ర భాషా నిలయం) is one of the oldest non-Government Library in T ...

, the British Library and the Sundarayya Vignana Kendram. *

Music and films

Hyderabad, spazio culturale Ravindra Bharathi

South Indian music Carnatic music, known as or in the South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and Sri Lanka. It is ...

and dances such as the

Kuchipudi Kuchipudi () ( Telugu: ) is one of the eight major Indian classical dances. It originates from a village named Kuchipudi in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Kuchipudi is a dance-drama performance, with its roots in the ancient Hindu Sa ...

and Bharatanatyam styles are popular in the Deccan region. As a result of their culture policies,

North Indian music Hindustani classical music is the classical music of northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. It may also be called North Indian classical music or, in Hindustani, ''shastriya sangeet'' (). It is played in instruments like the violin, sit ...

and dance gained popularity during the rule of the Mughals and Nizams, and it was also during their reign that it became a tradition among the nobility to associate themselves with tawaif (courtesans). These courtesans were revered as the epitome of etiquette and culture, and were appointed to teach singing, poetry, and classical dance to many children of the aristocracy. This gave rise to certain styles of court music, dance and poetry. Besides western and Indian popular music genres such as filmi music, the residents of Hyderabad play city-based ''

marfa music The Marfa is a form of celebratory rhythmic music and dance from Hyderabad, India, among the Hyderabadi Muslims, adapted from Afro-Arab music of Hadhramawt in Yemen. It is played at a high tempo using instruments such as marfa, '' daff'', ''dho ...

'', ''Dholak ke Geet'' (household songs based on local folklore), and qawwali, especially at weddings, festivals and other celebratory events. The state government organises the Golconda Music and Dance Festival, the Taramati Music Festival and the Premavathi Dance Festival to further encourage the development of music. * Although the city is not particularly noted for theatre and drama, the state government promotes theatre with multiple programmes and festivals in such venues as the

Ravindra Bharati Ravindra Bharathi is an auditorium located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was named after Rabindranath Tagore. History On 23 March 1960, the then Governor of Uttar Pradesh and a former Chief minister of Andhra State, Bezawada Gopala Red ...

Shilpakala Vedika Shilpakala Vedika is a terracotta auditorium and convention centre located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The auditorium is in area. "Shilpa" means sculpture, ''kala'' means art, and ''vedika'' means platform. Hence it is an art sculpture pl ...

, Lalithakala Thoranam and Lamakaan. Although not a purely music oriented event, Numaish, a popular annual exhibition of local and national consumer products, does feature some musical performances. The city is home to the Telugu film industry, popularly known as Tollywood. In the 1970s, Deccani language realist films by globally acclaimed

Shyam Benegal Shyam Benegal (born 14 December 1934) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker. Often regarded as the pioneer of parallel cinema, he is widely considered as one of the greatest filmmakers post 1970s. He has received ...

started a movement of

coming of age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

art films in India, which came to be known as parallel cinema. * * * The Deccani film industry ("Dollywood") produces films in the local Hyderabadi dialect, which have gained regional popularity since 2005. The city has hosted international film festivals such as the International Children's Film Festival and the Hyderabad International Film Festival. * In 2005, '' Guinness World Records'' declared Ramoji Film City to be the world's largest film studio.

Art and handicrafts

Water pipe base, Bidriware, Hyderabad, India

The region is well known for its Golconda and Hyderabad painting styles which are branches of

Deccan painting Deccan painting or Deccani painting is the form of Indian miniature painting produced in the Deccan region of Central India, in the various Muslim capitals of the Deccan sultanates that emerged from the break-up of the Bahmani Sultanate by 1 ...

. Developed during the 16th century, the Golconda style is a native style blending foreign techniques and bears some similarity to the Vijayanagara paintings of neighbouring Mysore. A significant use of luminous gold and white colours is generally found in the Golconda style. * The Hyderabad style originated in the 17th century under the Nizams. Highly influenced by Mughal painting, this style makes use of bright colours and mostly depicts regional landscape, culture, costumes, and jewellery. Although not a centre for handicrafts itself, the patronage of the arts by the Mughals and Nizams attracted artisans from the region to Hyderabad. Such crafts include: Wootz steel, Filigree work,

Bidriware Bidriware is a metal handicraft from the city of Bidar in southern India. It was developed in the 14th century C.E. during the rule of the Bahmani Sultans. The term "bidriware" originates from the township of Bidar, which is still the chief cent ...

, a metalwork handicraft from neighbouring Karnataka, which was popularised during the 18th century and has since been granted a Geographical Indication (GI) tag under the auspices of the

WTO The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...

act; and

Zari ''Zari'' (or ''jari'') is an even thread traditionally made of fine gold or silver used in traditional Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani garments, especially as brocade in saris etc. This thread is woven into fabrics, primarily silk, to make in ...

and Zardozi, embroidery works on textile that involve making elaborate designs using gold, silver and other metal threads. Chintz—a glazed calico textiles was originated in Golconda in 16th century. and another example of a handicraft drawn to Hyderabad is

Kalamkari ''Kalamkari'' is a type of hand-painted cotton textile produced in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Only natural dyes are used in ''Kalamkari'', which involves twenty-three steps. There are two distinctive styles of Kalamkari art in India � ...

, a hand-painted or block-printed cotton textile that comes from cities in Andhra Pradesh. This craft is distinguished in having both a Hindu style, known as

Srikalahasti Srikalahasti is a holy town in Tirupati district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and the revenue division of Srikalahasti mandal & Srikalahasti revenue division. It is a part of Tirupati Urban Development Authority, wh ...

and entirely done by hand, and an Islamic style, known as Machilipatnam which uses both hand and block techniques. Examples of Hyderabad's arts and crafts are housed in various museums including the Salar Jung Museum (housing "one of the largest one-man-collections in the world"), the

Telangana State Archaeology Museum Telangana State Archaeology Museum or Hyderabad Museum is a museum located in Hyderabad, India. It is the oldest museum in Hyderabad. History Archaeologist Henry Cousens first explored the site in the beginning of the 19th century, and around ...

, the

, the City Museum and the

Birla Science Museum B. M. Birla Science Museum is an Indian science museum located in Hyderabad, India. Constructed by civil engineer P. A. Singaravelu, it comprises a planetarium, museum, science centre, art gallery as well as a dinosaurium. The museum itself was ...

Cuisine

Hyderabadi cuisine comprises a broad repertoire of rice, wheat and

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

dishes and the skilled use of various spices. Hyderabad is listed by UNESCO as a creative city of gastronomy. The '' Hyderabadi biryani'' and '' Hyderabadi haleem'' with their blend of

Mughlai The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

and Arab cuisines, carry the national Geographical Indications tag. Hyderabadi cuisine is influenced to some extent by

, but more by Arabic,

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

, Iranian and native

and Marathwada cuisines. Popular native dishes include '' nihari'', ''

chakna Chakna or chaakna is a spicy stew, originating from the Indian subcontinent, made out of goat tripe and other animal digestive parts. It is a speciality among Hyderabadi Muslims. In all other parts of India, chakna refers to any snacks/finger f ...

'', ''

baghara baingan Baghāre baingan ( ur, ) is a curry from the Hyderabadi cuisine made with eggplant (''brinjal'') Hyderabad. It is also used as a side dish with the Hyderabadi biryani. Etymology The word ''baghār'' refers to tempering, and the word ''bai ...

'' and the desserts ''

qubani ka meetha Qubani ka meetha is an Indian dessert made from dried apricots. It is a part of Hyderabadi cuisine and is a common feature at Hyderabadi weddings. History ''Khubani'' or ''khobani'' ( خوبانی) is Urdu for apricot; it is believed that apri ...

'', ''

double ka meetha Double ka meetha (also known as '' Shahi Tukra'', is an Indian bread pudding sweet made of fried bread slices soaked in hot milk with spices, including saffron and cardamom. Double ka meetha is a dessert of Hyderabad. It is popular in Hyderab ...

'' and ''kaddu ki kheer'' (a sweet porridge made with sweet gourd).

Media

One of Hyderabad's earliest newspapers, '' The Deccan Times'', was established in the 1780s. Major Telugu dailies published in Hyderabad are '' Eenadu'', '' Sakshi'' and ''

Namasthe Telangana ''Namasthe Telangana'' Indian Telugu-language daily newspaper published from Hyderabad, Telangana. It was launched on 6 June 2011. The paper aims to mainly focus on politics and developments of Telangana State. The newspaper is published by Tela ...

'', while major English papers are '' The Times of India'', ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' and '' Deccan Chronicle''. The major Urdu papers include '' The Siasat Daily'', ''

The Munsif Daily ''The Munsif Daily'' ( ur, ) is an Urdu language newspaper published from Hyderabad in India. Its Editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final respon ...

'' and ''

Etemaad ''Etemad'' or ''Etemaad'' (in Persian ''اعتماد'' lit. ''Trust''; correct transcription: ettemād, because in pronunciation the letter "t" is duplicated) is a reformist newspaper in Iran that is published in Tehran. It is managed by Elias ...

''. The Secunderabad Cantonment Board established the first radio station in Hyderabad State around 1919. Deccan Radio was the first radio public broadcast station in the city starting on 3 February 1935, with FM broadcasting beginning in 2000. The available channels in Hyderabad include All India Radio, Radio Mirchi, Radio City, Red FM, Big FM and

Fever FM Fever, also referred to as pyrexia, is defined as having a temperature above the normal range due to an increase in the body's temperature set point. There is not a single agreed-upon upper limit for normal temperature with sources using valu ...

. Television broadcasting in Hyderabad began in 1974 with the launch of ''

Doordarshan Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest bro ...

'', the government of India's public service broadcaster, which transmits two free-to-air terrestrial television channels and one satellite channel. Private satellite channels started in July 1992 with the launch of Star TV. Satellite TV channels are accessible via cable subscription, direct-broadcast satellite services or internet-based television. Hyderabad's first dial-up internet access became available in the early 1990s and was limited to software development companies. The first public internet access service began in 1995, with the first private sector internet service provider (ISP) starting operations in 1998. In 2015, high-speed public WiFi was introduced in parts of the city.

Education

Public and private schools in Hyderabad are governed by the Central Board of Secondary Education and follow a "10+2+3" plan. About two-thirds of pupils attend privately run institutions. Languages of instruction include English, Hindi, Telugu and Urdu. Depending on the institution, students are required to sit the Secondary School Certificate or the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education. After completing secondary education, students enroll in schools or junior colleges with higher secondary facilities. Admission to professional graduation colleges in Hyderabad, many of which are affiliated with either Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad (JNTUH) or Osmania University (OU), is through the Engineering Agricultural and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAM-CET). There are 13 universities in Hyderabad: two private universities, two

deemed universities Deemed university, or deemed-to-be-university, is an accreditation granted to higher educational institutions in India by the Department of Higher Education. , the UGC lists 127 institutes which were granted the deemed to be university status. ...

, six state universities, and three central universities. The central universities are the University of Hyderabad (Hyderabad Central University, HCU), Maulana Azad National Urdu University and the English and Foreign Languages University. Osmania University, established in 1918, was the first university in Hyderabad and is India's second most popular institution for international students. The Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Open University, established in 1982, is the first distance-learning open university in India. Hyderabad is home to a number of centres specialising in particular fields such as biomedical sciences, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, such as the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) and

National Institute of Nutrition The National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) is an Indian public health, nutrition and translational research centre located in Hyderabad, India. The institute is one of the oldest research centres in India, and the largest centre, under the India ...

(NIN). Hyderabad has five major medical schools—

Osmania Medical College Osmania Medical College, formerly known as ''The Hyderabad Medical School'', is a medical college in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was founded in 1846 by the 5th Nizam of Hyderabad and Berar, Afzal ud Dowla, Asaf Jah 5. The college was orig ...

, Gandhi Medical College,

Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) is a public hospital located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India and is named after its founder – the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad– and was inaugurated by Princess Durreshehvar It is an Institute under St ...

, Deccan College of Medical Sciences and

Shadan Institute of Medical Sciences Shadan Institute of Medical Sciences is a medical college in Rangareddy, Hyderabad, Telangana. The institute with 150 medical seats is attached to an 800-bedded Multi speciality hospital for world class clinical training of its students as per ...

—and many affiliated teaching hospitals. An All India Institute of Medical Sciences has been sanctioned in the outskirts of Hyderabad. The Government Nizamia Tibbi College is a college of Unani medicine. Hyderabad is also the headquarters of the

Indian Heart Association The Indian Heart Association (IHA), along with the Indian Stroke Association (ISA), is an organization dedicated to raising cardiovascular and stroke health awareness among the South Asian population. The organisation was founded by Harvard Medi ...

, a non-profit foundation for cardiovascular education. Institutes in Hyderabad include the

National Institute of Rural Development The National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR), an autonomous organisation under the Union Ministry of Rural Development, is a premier national centre of excellence in rural development and Panchayati Raj. Recognized int ...

, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad (NLU), the Indian School of Business, the

National Geophysical Research Institute The National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) is a geoscientific research organization established in 1961 under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India's largest Research and Development organization. It is suppo ...

, the Institute of Public Enterprise, the

Administrative Staff College of India Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), was started jointly by the Government of India and the representatives of industry as an autonomous institute in the year 1956 to impart training in the field of Civil Services development. It is loc ...

and the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy. Technical and engineering schools include the

International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

(IIITH),

Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani – Hyderabad Birla may refer to: * Birla family * Members of the Birla family: ** Aditya Vikram Birla ** Ananya Birla ** Basant Kumar Birla ** G. D. Birla ** K. K. Birla ** C. K. Birla ** Kumar Mangalam Birla See also * Burla (disambiguation) Burla may refer ...

(BITS Hyderabad), Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management Hyderabad Campus (GITAM Hyderabad Campus), and Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IIT-H) as well as agricultural engineering institutes such as the

(ICRISAT) and the

Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU) is a public agricultural university with its headquarters at the village Lam, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, India. History The original Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University was est ...

. Hyderabad also has schools of fashion design including Raffles Millennium International, NIFT Hyderabad and Wigan and Leigh College. The National Institute of Design, Hyderabad (NID-H), will offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses from 2015.

Sports

Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal

At the professional level, the city has hosted national and international sports events such as the 2002

National Games of India The National Games of India consist of various disciplines in which athletes from the different states of India participate against each other. The country's first few Olympic Games, now renamed as National Games, were held in North India (De ...

, the

2003 Afro-Asian Games The 2003 Afro-Asian Games, officially known as the First Afro-Asian Games or I Afro-Asian Games and unofficially known as the Inaugural Afro-Asian Games, was a major international multi-sport sporting event, event held in Hyderabad, India, from ...

, the

2004 AP Tourism Hyderabad Open The 2004 AP Tourism Hyderabad Open was a Tier 4 women's professional tennis tournament on the 2004 WTA Tour. It was the second edition of the tournament and was held from 16 through 21 February 2004. Nicole Pratt won the singles title. Champio ...

women's tennis tournament, the

2007 Military World Games The 2007 Military World Games, officially the 4th CISM Military World Games were held at the twin-cities Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad - Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India from 14–21 October 2007. Some parts of the games were also held ...

, the

2009 World Badminton Championships The 2009 BWF World Championships was the 17th tournament of the World Badminton Championships, a global tournament in the sport of badminton. It was held at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India, from 10–16 August ...

and the 2009 IBSF World Snooker Championship. The city hosts a number of venues suitable for professional competition such as the Swarnandhra Pradesh Sports Complex for field hockey, the G. M. C. Balayogi Stadium in Gachibowli for athletics and football, and for cricket, the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium and

Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium The Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, also colloquially known as Hyderabad Cricket Stadium is a cricket stadium in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Located in the eastern suburb of Uppal, it has a maximum capacity of 55,000 and extend ...

, home ground of the Hyderabad Cricket Association. Hyderabad has hosted many international cricket matches, including matches in the 1987 and the 1996 ICC Cricket World Cups. The Hyderabad cricket team represents the city in the

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy (also known as Mastercard Ranji Trophy for sponsorship reasons) is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between multiple teams representing regional and state cricket associations. Board of Control for Cr ...

—a first-class cricket tournament among India's states and cities. Hyderabad is home to the Indian Premier League franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad—previously Deccan Chargers—is the champion of

2009 Indian Premier League The 2009 Indian Premier League season, abbreviated as IPL 2 or the 2009 IPL, was the second season of the Indian Premier League, established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007. The tournament was hosted by South Africa an ...

and

2016 Indian Premier League The 2016 season of the Indian Premier League, also known as IPL 9, and branded as Vivo IPL 2016 for sponsorship reasons, was the ninth season of the IPL, a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricket in ...

. The new professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club of the city Hyderabad FC champions of

2021-22 Indian Super League Increment or incremental may refer to: * Incrementalism, a theory (also used in politics as a synonym for gradualism) * Increment and decrement operators, the operators ++ and -- in computer programming * Incremental computing * Incremental backu ...

. During British rule, Secunderabad became a well-known sporting centre and many race courses, parade grounds and

polo Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...

fields were built. Many elite clubs formed by the Nizams and the British such as the

Secunderabad Club The Secunderabad Club is an elite club located in Secunderabad, India. It is one of the five oldest clubs in India, the oldest club being the Bengal Club of Calcutta. The club went through four name changes before the name Secunderabad Club w ...

, the Nizam Club and the Hyderabad Race Club, which is known for its horse racing especially the annual Deccan derby, still exist. In more recent times, motorsports has become popular with the Andhra Pradesh Motor Sports Club organising popular events such as the Deccan Mile Drag, TSD Rallies and 4x4 off-road rallying.

Transport

, the most commonly used forms of medium-distance transport in Hyderabad include government-owned services such as light railways and buses, as well as privately operated taxis and auto rickshaws. These altogether serve 3.5 million passengers daily. Bus services operate from the

Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station The Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS), also known as the Imlibun Bus Station (Imlibun means "grove of tamarind trees"), is a bus station on the Musi River in the Imlibun area of southern Hyderabad, India. It is owned by the Telangana State Roa ...

in the city centre with a fleet of 3800 buses serving 3.3 million passengers. Hyderabad Metro—(a light-rail rapid transit system) was inaugurated in November 2017. it is a 3 track network spread upon with 57 stations, it is the second-largest metro rail network in India. Hyderabad's Multi-Modal Transport System (MMTS), is a three-line suburban rail service with 121 services carrying 180,000 passengers daily. Complementing these government services are minibus routes operated by Setwin (Society for Employment Promotion & Training in Twin Cities). Intercity rail services operate from Hyderabad; the main, and largest, station is Secunderabad railway station, which serves as Indian Railways' South Central Railway zone headquarters and a hub for both buses and MMTS light rail services connecting Secunderabad and Hyderabad. Other major railway stations in Hyderabad are , , , and . , there are over 5.3 million vehicles operating in the city, of which 4.3 million are two-wheelers and 1.04 million four-wheelers. The large number of vehicles coupled with relatively low road coverage—roads occupy only 9.5% of the total city area—has led to widespread traffic congestion especially since 80% of passengers and 60% of freight are transported by road. The Inner Ring Road, the Outer Ring Road, the Hyderabad Elevated Expressway, the longest flyover in India, and various

interchanges Interchange may refer to: Transport * Interchange (road), a collection of ramps, exits, and entrances between two or more highways * Interchange (freight rail), the transfer of freight cars between railroad companies * Interchange station, a rai ...

, overpasses and underpasses were built to ease congestion. Maximum speed limits within the city are for two-wheelers and cars, for auto rickshaws and for

light commercial vehicle A light commercial vehicle (LCV) in the European Union, Australia and New Zealand is a commercial carrier vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of no more than 3.5 metric tons (tonnes). The LCV designation is also occasionally used in both Canad ...

s and buses. Hyderabad sits at the junction of three National Highways linking it to six other states:

NH-44 National Highway 8 (NH 8) is a National Highway in India running from Karimganj in Assam to Sabroom in Tripura. It is not to be confused with former NH 8 (Delhi-Jaipur-Baroda-Bombay), which has been renumbered NH 48 National High ...

runs from

Srinagar Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

, in the north to Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, in the south; NH-65, runs east-west between Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh connects Hyderabad and

Suryapet Suryapet is a city in the Indian state of Telangana. It is a municipality and the headquarters of its eponymous district. The Government of India announced Suryapet to be developed under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformat ...

with Pune,

; NH-163 links Hyderabad and

Bhopalpatnam Bhopalpatnam is a tehsil, revenue division and development block in Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh, India. There lies a newly built bridge on indravati river connecting Chhattisgarh State to Maharashtra. NH-63 connects Jagdalpur- Sironcha- CHE ...

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (, ) is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the seventeenth most populous. It borders seven states – Uttar Pradesh to the north, Madhya Prade ...

; NH-765 links Hyderabad to Srisailam, Andhra Pradesh. Five state highways, SH-1 links Hyderabad, to

Ramagundam Ramagundam is a city and municipal corporation in Peddapalli district of the Indian state of Telangana. It is the most populous city in the district and falls under the Peddapalli revenue division. It is located on the banks of the Godavari R ...

, SH-2, SH-4, and SH-6, either start from, or pass through, Hyderabad. Air traffic was previously handled via Begumpet Airport established in 1930, but this was replaced by Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in 2008, capable of handling 25 million passengers and 150,000 metric-tonnes of cargo per annum. In 2020, Airports Council International, an autonomous body representing the world's airports, judged RGIA the Best Airport in Environment and Ambience and the Best Airport by Size and Region in the passenger category. *

Explanatory notes

Citations

General and cited references

* *

External links

A guide to Hyderabad
* {{Authority control Cities and towns in Hyderabad district, India Cities in Telangana Indian capital cities High-technology business districts in India Metropolitan cities in India Historic districts Capitals of former nations Former national capitals Former capital cities in India Populated places established in 1591 1591 establishments in Asia 1590s establishments in India

History

Toponymy

Early and medieval history

Modern history

Post-Independence

Geography

Climate

Conservation

Administration

Common capital status

Local government

Utility services

Pollution control

Healthcare

Demographics

Ethnicity

Religion

Languages

Slums

Cityscape

Neighbourhoods

Landmarks

Economy

Culture

Literature

Music and films

Art and handicrafts

Cuisine

Media

Education

Sports

Transport

See also

Explanatory notes

Citations

General and cited references

Further reading

External links