Voters dump Naidu stock but Hyderabad still bluechip

‘‘Once the new CM is in place, we will introduce ourselves and hope to take the relationship forward,’’ said Ravi Venkatesan, chairman of Microsoft India, which has a development centre in Hyderabad. ‘‘Our investment plans stand. We are in it for the long haul.’’

Most players, while giving credit to Naidu for pioneering the IT revolution in the state, agreed that he had done such a competent job — and Hyderabad’s industry had matured to such an extent — that his absence would not matter at all.

Invensys, a 5 billion-pound technology major, is sticking to plans to move into a lavish new office in Hyderabad later this year.

‘‘We’re going to move to a new 45,000 sq ft facility, regardless of the government change,’’ said Aniruddha Dasu, general manager, Invensys’ India Development Centre (IDC).

In 2003, the company ploughed $2.5 mn into Hyderabad and said they would double headcount over 2003-04. ‘‘All existing commitments are being met and we’re expanding, despite apprehensions about the new government’s policies,’’ said Dasu.

Wipro, which recently joined the billion-dollar club, was also sanguine about the change. ‘‘We hope the new government will not be so stupid as to change the good policies of the Naidu government,’’ said its spokesman.

But there still are nagging doubts — power reforms, Congress style, for instance. ‘‘Reforms are past their infancy and cannot be reversed so easily, there are uncertainties that schemes like free power to farmers will affect industry,’’ said Savita Mahajan, Assistant Dean of Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business (ISB).

Even IT consultants Yash Technologies, among the top 100 fastest growing private companies in the US, has decided to wait out the next few weeks of ‘‘uncertainty’’ until things ‘‘settle down.’’

‘‘There may be uncertainty, but Hyderabad has grown beyond the point when every change brings radical policy shifts,’’ said YT general manager, Vinod Samantula.

Nandan Nilekani, president of Infosys, shared the sentiment. ‘‘Any pro-development government will be able to sustain the economic progress the region has seen,’’ he said.

Jairam Ramesh, secretary of the Congress’ Economic Cell, said the software sector would continue to be a priority for the Congress though the party would also focus on the agriculture sector.

And he told the industry not to underestimate Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, who is expected to succeed Chandrababu Naidu

‘‘Mr Reddy is an MBBS graduate. So, he is a professional,’’ said Ramesh. ‘‘Two, he speaks better English. And three, he is better networked than Mr Naidu.’’