Telangana Pushes Ahead With Bharat Future City, India’s First Net-Zero Smart Industrial Hub, Amidst Local Resistance

The Telangana government is pressing ahead with plans for Bharat Future City, a vast 765 sq km urban-industrial hub on Hyderabad’s southern outskirts, under the supervision of the newly formed Future City Development Authority (FCDA), The New Indian Express reported.

The initiative, to be implemented by the Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC) with support from an international consultancy, is billed as India’s first net-zero smart industrial city.

Designed to host more than one million people, it will integrate industrial clusters, residential neighbourhoods and civic amenities.

The city will be structured around a “Live, Learn, Work, Play” principle, with walk-to-work housing, health and knowledge hubs, a sports city, and resorts near reserve forests.

Officials said the zones will focus on artificial intelligence, life sciences, electric vehicles, energy storage, electronics, tourism, film production and healthcare.

Connectivity will be ensured through a metro corridor and Bus Rapid Transit Systems, while proximity to Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and major highways is expected to add to its appeal.

The government hopes to attract international funding from agencies including JICA, the World Bank and the AIIB.

Over the past year, CM Reddy and IT Minister D Sridhar Babu have unveiled investment proposals, including a Rs 1,000 crore project by Japan’s Marubeni to establish Telangana’s first next-generation industrial park, and a planned 1,000 acre electronic city.

The administration has promised jobs, infrastructure and economic growth.

Yet opposition has been mounting. Farmers, labourers and environmental activists argue that the project ignores the rights and needs of local residents.

Critics point out that the government has not released a master plan, feasibility study or environmental assessment.

Adding to the controversy is the political reversal: the Congress, now championing Bharat Future City, had earlier opposed similar development drives in the same region led by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).

The proposed hub, encompassing 56 villages across seven mandals, sits strategically between Hyderabad’s Outer Ring Road and the planned Regional Ring Road.

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