Events rock in Hyderabad during recession
8 Nov 2008, Times of India

HYDERABAD: The meltdown seems to be working for Hyderabad. It has given the city more prominence on the map and has marked it as a `wanted' destination for several large-scale events, the city's bull period in the time of downsizing and stock market crashes being fuelled by its cost effectiveness. 

From cricket to global conferences and international music bands, Hyderabad seems to be `the business destination' for all. 

The internationally renowned trance band Infected Mushrooms, for instance, chose Hyderabad to kick start their India tour with a performance in the city on Wednesday even as the city is gearing up to host an international travel conference.

Now, some weddings too are shifting to Hyderabad. Non Resident Indians who have traditionally headed for Goa for their "dream weddings'' are now coming to Hyderabad, that promises them star facilities and the cheaper rates certainly make up for the sea. 

Not just that, the city managed to rub shoulders with the worlds number one DJ Armin Van Buuren on Thursday, who too chose Hyderabad among other cities for his first do in India. While tickets to the event held at a pub in Jubillee Hills were priced at Rs 3,000 which included free drinks, organisers pointed out tickets would have been prohibitively priced had the Dutch DJ mixed music in Mumbai or Bangalore. 

The city is also gearing up for its first Tea and Coffee World Cup which is famous event in the US and Germany and has stepped into India the first time. Mumbai and Delhi were among the cities vying for this world cup event, which will now be held in Hitex from November 20 to 22. "We offered a reasonable deal,'' says Arvind Kumar of Hitex, explaining how the event landed in Hyderabad. Sanjay Kapoor, COO, Hitex, adds that another ten shows are slated in the city starting March, each of them happening in the country for the first time. 

Arun Kumar, director of event management group Traditions, says Hyderabad now scores over Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai being the least expensive in terms of setting up a production base, accommodation and transport -- things that any event organiser working on a tight budget would be looking at. "Holding an event in Mumbai would cost 60 per cent more than what it would in Hyderabad while in Bangalore the expenses would be a comfortable 30 per cent higher," he says.

"We got very good deals from city hotels, event venues and transport organisers. In fact we managed to get Hitex Grounds, the venue for the concert at a very good price, better than what we have had to pay in Bangalore and Mumbai," says DJ Murthy owner of Frequency, the event management company which brought Infected Mushrooms to the city. 

The other reason for Hyderabad doing 'decent' business even in such times is the availability of large spaces in the city at very reasonable rates. "There are several big grounds like Hitex here and also a convention centre like HICC. To avail of such space in cities like Mumbai or Bangalore will cost companies a fortune. However, here they get it for a very good price," says Pradeep Dutta, General Secretary of Hotels and Restaurants Association, Hyderabad. 

The organisers of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) may have now pulled out of the city because of differences with the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh, but when they had initially set up base here they were offered very reasonable deals too, thanks to the meltdown. "Because it's recession time, any business is welcome and people were willing to cut cost (of their service). We managed to get a good price from various service providers. Moreover, the market in Hyderabad is very competitive and that adds to our benefit because we have so many options to choose from in that case," says Sahriq Patel, senior vice-president of marketing and operation, ICL. 

However, even with discounted offers and fairer prices organisers are still cutting corners to beat the market crash. While ICL this time gave a miss to the Bollywood crowd that hogged more of the limelight last year and compromised on accommodation facilities for the support staff, Frequency transferred catering services from a star hotel to a city pub for the concert and slashed ticket prices to pull more crowd. 

"We also reduced the strength of extra stage staff and requested them to fly economy class instead of business class this time so that we could cut down our production costs by at least 35-40 per cent," says Murthy.