The image of "Brand Hyderabad" among corporates appears to be intact and has overcome the fear of agitations over the separate Telangana issue, according to a senior govt official.

Notwithstanding the agitations, there is a demand for as much as 5-6 million square feet of IT space in the city, according to Ratna Prabha, Principal Secretary, state Information Technology Department.

According to Prabha, during the last one year over 2 million sf of IT space in the state has been either sold out or leased.

"Initially in the months of January and February, there was a bit lull. However, as the year progressed, demand started shooting up," Prabha said.

She said it was notable that several biggies like Facebook and JP Morgan had set up shops in Hyderabad, which was the epicentre of the statehood movement during the peak of Telangana agitations last year.

IT Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah recently said infotech giant IBM has evinced interest to expand its activities in Hyderabad and invest more.

A team from the Dutch chemical company Royal DSM met Lakshmaih last week and held discussions over setting up its back office and IT support centre in the state capital.

Lakshmaiah said the firm, which has a turnover of USD 10 billion and 22,000 employees, already has a manufacturing unit in Pune.

Srikanth Badiga, Regional Chairman, Export Promotion Council for EOUs and SEZs, said the demand for IT space by small IT firms and BPOs has picked up after the US and some European countries started coming out of recession.