American dreams take $340 billion wings in Hyderabad

Hyderabad/Washington DC: Five of the highest-valued companies in the world – Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta – host their largest presence outside the United States in Hyderabad.

“Put simply, this dynamic region plays a critical role in the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership,” Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson, US Department of State, told journalists in Washington today (IST).

As Hyderabad has emerged as a key to linking businesses and people from the United States and the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, the US has opened a new state-of-the-art facility by the US Consulate General in the city’s bustling financial district, Nanakramguda, on March 20, 2023.  

“Our new consulate chancery in Hyderabad represents a tangible investment by the United States in the growing bilateral relationship,” Patel said.

The new facility, with a project budget of $340 million, “pays respect” to the local landscape, and through the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, the USA is working with local partners to preserve historic monuments. Located on a 12-acre site, the new consulate “embodies the U.S. State Department’s mission to provide safe, secure, functional, and resilient facilities for U.S. diplomacy”.

The $340 million construction project included $70 million in local investment and employed a combined workforce of over 1,000 American, Indian, and third-country nationals.

“At a cost of $340 million, our new consulate facility in Hyderabad is an investment in the US relationship with India. We look forward to increasing our staff – including visa officers – in order to continue expanding U.S.-India ties in the months and years to come,” said a US Embassy press release.

The new space is expected to help consulate staff work with local journalists, which will increase reporting on climate change, and share information on educational opportunities. The new consulate in Hyderabad will also host countless visitors, as the US and Indian militaries regularly team up for joint exercises based out of India’s Eastern Naval Command.

“The move brings our government closer to US companies that have invested billions of dollars in India’s tech, defence, aerospace, and pharmaceutical sectors,”  Patel, said. He stressed that the US consulate in Hyderabad is “a key” to linking businesses and people from the United States and the Indian states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha.

“We continue to welcome Indian visitors, businesspeople, and students from those states, and this new facility puts us in a position to increase Mission India’s consular services in the future,” he added.

In Hyderabad, the Consulate General tweeted yesterday that Consular services were full steam ahead at the new facility. “We issued our first set of U.S. passports today. We’re excited to serve more U.S. citizens in Nanakramguda and we’re working hard to schedule more visa interviews and expand consular staffing,” it stated.

Earlier, the US Consulate General in Hyderabad, which is the first U.S. diplomatic office to open in India since India’s independence, was operating from the Paigah Palace and had approved more than 16 lakh visas and processed 42,511 US citizenship services during its 14 years there.

– global bihari bureau