India’s largest start-up incubator, Telangana T-Hub was officially launched today on Thursday at the International Institute for Information Technology (IIIT) at Gachibowli. Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata and Governor ESL Narasimhan inaugurated the first phase of T-Hub.

Claimed to be only one of its kind in the country, 70,000 square foot building called CatalysT is aimed at providing a right ecosystem for startups which will be entirely dedicated to entrepreneurship and making Hyderabad the startup capital of India.

T-Hub is a public/private partnership between the Government of Telangana and three premier academic institutes — IIIT-Hyderabad, Indian School of Business (ISB) and National Academy of Legal Studies & Research.

Telangana IT Minister K T Rama Rao said that a board comprising of industrialists and entrepreneurs would guide the T-Hub. “The Government won’t interfere in the functioning of the T-hub and will function independently. It will be a model incubator when the second phase is also completed,’’ KTR said. The second phase will be set up with another Rs 150 crores and the facility will offer over 3 lakh sq. feet space.

At least 140 start-ups are expected to start at the Catalyst facility and will get a minimum of six months time to establish themselves after which they will move out to allow freshers to come in.

“This is not a building. It is an ecosystem, an incubator of incubators. Representatives from giants like Google, Microsoft, Nasscom and various incubators of universities will co-exist here,” KTR earlier said.

T-Hub’s vision and execution capabilities, coupled with industry support will drive economic and social prosperity through entrepreneurship, and make T-Hub a vital node in the network of global innovation hubs. T-Hub hopes to attract the best start-ups and entrepreneur organizations to Hyderabad from across the world.