The Accumulation for Possession in Global City: A Case of Land and Housing Market in Hyderabad City

Globalisation, neoliberal ideology, movement and economy and International Financial Institutions have transformed Hyderabad into a global city due to two significant facets since 2000. These are 1) the growing influence of Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) companies and the IT (Information Technology) industry, which made the HI-TECH CITY (Hyderabad Information Technologies and Engineering Consultancy City), also called as a Cyberabad. Other significant factor is Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), Out Ring Road (ORR) and Hyderabad Metro Rail. This paper intends to present that these two major factors have led to the infrastructural development projects, land accumulation by dispossession, land struggles and social movements, reterritorialisation of agricultural land, the production of new urban spaces, commercialisation of land and commodification of housing, speculative urbanism, real estate globalisation and capitalising caste in the neo-liberal era mainly a focus on Hyderabad city in the Telangana state of India in 21st century.

This paper is also trying to engage the conceptual trajectory of Karl Marx’s concept primitive accumulation extended by David Harvey accumulation by dispossession. However, my PhD research fieldwork extended the idea of accumulation for possession is trying to develop from real estate advertisement in Kondapur main road in Hi-tech city, where upper classes-castes and elites have occupied these spaces. This concept accumulation for possession is drawing Hegel idea of possession and property from his “Philosophy of Right” text. The state, capitalism and real estate developers and landed dominant castes have played a vital role in the process of land accumulation for possession not only for ITES and IT companies but also land and housing market.