How Hyderabad expanded beyond its ‘borders’

As one leaves Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) and takes the Outer Ring Road (ORR) towards Gachibowli, the change in the city is almost so gradual as to be missed. For a while, there is an open plot of land with greenery on both sides. Then buildings start to appear. A tower here, another in the distance, and soon whole clusters of high-rise buildings appear. By the time one reaches the western corridor, the skyline has changed completely, with glass towers, office blocks, apartment complexes and construction sites stretching across what was not so long ago the outskirts of the city.

It’s a sight that we would hardly have imagined five decades ago. Hyderabad was once a compact city with most of its activity centered around the older neighborhoods and established business centers. Today, the city has expanded far beyond this core. New residential and work centers emerged to the west, south, and north, while older neighborhoods were absorbed into the much larger metropolitan area.

The transformation was driven by more than real estate. Labour, migration, infrastructure, rising incomes and changing family structures all played a role. But few things show the extent of the change as clearly as the land on which the new Hyderabad was built.

For 52-year-old Anish Rao, a civil servant who grew up in Yousufgud, the difference is personal. “I still remember that when I was a child, Yousufguda was quite developed due to its proximity to Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills. But crossing Madhapur at night was considered scary because there was nothing there,” he said.

When Hyderabad started moving west

Just as Rome was not built in a day, the expansion of Hyderabad did not happen overnight. Residential colonies and industrial areas gradually pushed the city beyond its older boundaries during the 1980s and 1990s. Kukatpally, Balanagar and Jeedimetla became increasingly connected to the city’s economy. Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills developed into prominent residential areas, while Madhapur was still largely identified with open country and scattered development.

Then the technology industry changed the direction of the city. The grand opening of HITEC City in Madhapur in 1998 was a turning point. As technology companies began setting up offices, the Western Corridor took on new economic significance. After jobs came housing, and after housing everything else needed to support a growing population: schools, hospitals, restaurants, hotels, shopping centers and entertainment venues.

Madhapur expanded towards Kondapur and Gachibowli. Raidurg has emerged as a major office district. The financial district brought another concentration of commercial development. More recently, Kokapet and Neopolis have become symbols of the next phase of Hyderabad’s western expansion. “Once jobs started moving west, housing followed,” said Jaideep Reddy, president of CREDAI Hyderabad.

For many migrants, however, the appeal was more straightforward. “People came here because there were jobs. Once they came, they needed houses, schools and everything else. That’s how whole areas started to develop. You could see one building being built and then suddenly a whole colony around it,” said Krishna Chaitanya, a longtime resident of the western suburbs.

The growth of the western corridor changed the value of the land itself. Places that were once agricultural or sparsely developed began to attract developers and investors. Roads and infrastructure made previously remote land more accessible, while proximity to job centers pushed demand for both homes and commercial space.

From five floors to 50

Hyderabad has not only expanded outwards. She also grew upwards. Detached houses and low-rise buildings once dominated much of the city’s residential landscape. Apartments became more and more common as land prices rose and more people moved into the city. Gated communities followed, offering not just houses, but a whole range of amenities in large residential developments.

Today, 40- and 50-story towers are increasingly visible in the newer parts of the city, with even taller buildings shaping the emerging skyline. For Nagender Reddy, a private sector employee, one of the clearest signs of the real estate boom is something that appears on almost every major road, billboards. The 158 km Outer Ring Road (ORR) has connected several emerging areas around Hyderabad and facilitated travel between different parts of the metropolitan region. The opening of the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Shamshabad in 2008 boosted the southern corridor, while the Metro Rail, which began operations in 2017, added a mass transit network to a city increasingly defined by long-distance commuting.

For commuters, the same expansion also meant longer journeys. “Earlier, crossing from one part of Hyderabad to another was not such a big decision. Now you have to see the traffic before deciding where to go,” said Saurav, a daily commuter.

Modern Hyderabad therefore represents a contradiction. It is easier to connect distant parts of the city than before, but the city itself is also much further apart. Hyderabad’s administrative boundaries expanded along with the physical city. In 2007, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) was formed by merging the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) with 12 surrounding municipalities. The municipal area expanded from approximately 175 km2 to approximately 650 km2. By then, the city had already begun to develop multiple centers, rather than growing exclusively around its historic core.

The Western Corridor has become a major employment and real estate hub. Kukatpally and surrounding areas have developed their own residential and commercial ecosystems. Secunderabad has retained its distinct identity while becoming part of a much larger urban continuum. The airport corridor and the southern parts of the metropolitan region were created as another development boundary.

For Hyderabadis who have undergone the transformation, the bigger change is that there is no longer one obvious center of the city. There are several of them. Around Charminar and its historic markets is old Hyderabad. There is a traditional trading town around Abids, Koti and Nampally. The residential Hyderabad of Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills is located here. It is home to the technology and corporate city of Madhapur, Gachibowli and the financial district. And around Kokapet, Neopolis, the airport corridor and beyond, a newer Hyderabad is emerging.

(siddharth.kumar@thehindu.co.in)

Published – 04 Sep 2026 05:30 IST