About 36 companies are currently operating in Kakinada. Tech Mahindra will start their operations by 2013 Total turnover of IT/ITES from Kakinada is around Rs 15 Crore during the last fiscal year. Godavari IT Association of East and West Godavari districts (GITA) is an association of IT companies in the twin Godavari districts which is based out of the city. Some of the prominent IT companies that have set shop here are: Infotech Enterprises, a Hyderabad based multinational software company, Avineon Inc, an US based technology company that provides geospatial and engineering services, Firstobject Technologies, a prominent BPO firm, Krify, UK as well as India based Mobile Apps development company. There are also several small to mid-size software companies that operate in Kakinada which include, I pro tech.,Prominere Software Solutions Pvt Ltd, Myfam Technologies,3One Technologies, TrewPort Technologies, Aaspire Technologies, Traceout Technologies, ForeTell Technologies Private Limited, Mythrii Solutions, Nyros Technologies, Meconzee InfoTech and Software Services, Easty Solutions, etc.
Several theories exist regarding the origin of the name Kakinada. One is that the place was called ‘Kakinandiwada’ during the reign of Nandi chiefs who ruled prior to the arrival of the Europeans and the name got truncated to Kakinada over time. The British used to call it Cocanada (pronounced “Caa-key-naada”). After Independence, the name was renaturalised to Kakinada, although a few organisations established during the British colonial rule retain the old name (e.g., Cocanada Chamber of Commerce). As per history this place was full of ponds filled with red lotus which is called as Kokanadamu in Telugu. Eventually this became CoCanada during the British rule. Even now, the City’s two railway stations are codenamed CCT (Kakinada Town Junction) and COA (Kakinada Port) by Indian Railways. Kakinada is also known as “Pensioners Paradise”, as it shares it calm and pleasant environment to the retired and old-age people. Some of the people locally conjures Kakinada as second MADRAS as they have some similar properties.
Kakinada has many health care facilities supported by both the government and private institutions. The major ones include the Government General Hospital (GGH), Apollo Hospitals, Christian Cancer Center, Care Hospital, Sai Sudha Hospital, Sravani ENT Care, Trust Hospital, Star hospital, Safe Emergency Hospital, Sri Satya Sai Multispeciality Hospital and New Life Hospital. Kakinada also has famous eye hospitals like the 50-year old State of the art D. V. Raju Eye Hospital which has been serving the city and the district of East Godavari through 3 generations. Nayana Eye Care, established in 1997 by Dr. Sriram Ravula, set a new trend by offering world-class eye care services in Kakinada and paved a path for many Eye hospitals around the state set up much later. Today, it is a leading Eye Hospital in the Northern Coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh and is a well equipped and highly acclaimed eye hospital in the state of Andhra Pradesh, providing comprehensive speciality services in Ophthalmology.
Kakinada is the base for Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s Eastern Offshore Asset. Several oil companies have Kakinada as a transit point for oil and gasoline shipments. Baker Hughes and Schlumberger are examples of the field development companies working on natural gas fields offshore the city. The Krishna Godavari Basin is considered to be the largest natural gas basin in India and significant discoveries of oil and natural gas were made by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation and Reliance, which has been producing around 60 mmscd of gas for the past two years from its prolific KG D6 block off the Kakinada coast. Reliance has an onshore terminal at Gadimoga village about 25 km from Kakinada to process and distribute gas to other parts of the country. Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation is also working on setting up a similar facility near Mallavaram village south of Kakinada.
The presence of a small island called Hope Island about 5 km from Kakinada coast makes Kakinada Port a natural harbour. It is home to two ports, an anchorage port and a deep water port. Kakinada’s deep-water port is the second largest in the state after Visakhapatnam port and is the first port in the country to be built on a Public-private partnership basis (in 1996). It is operated by Kakinada Seaports Limited. Before the deep water port was built, the anchorage port was the largest of the forty minor ports operating in India. Currently both deep water port and older anchorage port co-exist. A shipyard is under construction, as a joint venture of Singapore-based Sembawang Shipyard Pvt. Ltd and Kakinada Seaports Ltd to provide vessel support services to ships plying around Kakinada port and on the East coast of India.
Good roads connect Kakinada with all the places within the state and rest of the country. NH-214 from Kathipudi to Ongole (both on NH-5) passes through Kakinada. A couple of state highways connect Kakinada to Rajahmundry and other places within the district. There is a proposal to develop the road between Kakinada and Suryapet via Rajahmundry into a National Highway which will reduce the distance between Kakinada and Hyderabad.The city roads were also so sapcious for the free flow of traffic.few roads are under widening process like main road temple street etc.the trafiic police dept and the city development authority has planned to arrange traffic signals in masjid centre,balaji cheruvu,atchampeta,ysr centre,jagannadhapuram,sp office,town hall. There was also aproposal to make NH-214 into 4 way road.
There are several small and large power plants in and around Kakinada. Spectrum Power Generation Ltd. has a 208MW power plant at Kakinada. In fact, it was one of the first Independent Power Producer in the country. The company is planning to expand the capacity to 1350 MW in phases. Tenders for the first phase of expansion to the tune of 350 MW have been called for recently. A 220 MW Power Station (currently being scaled upwards to 2400 MW at a cost of Rs 10000 Cr) owned by Reliance Energy Limited, and a 464 MW Combined Cycle Power Plant by GVK group are under operation at Samalkota (Kakinada Rural). All these private power plants supply electricity to the state’s transmission utility, AP TRANSCO, under a Power Purchase Agreement.GMR GROUP will start a power plant in kakinada.
Kakinada has a Tropical savanna climate. The weather is hot and humid for most of the year. The hottest part of the year is late May to early June with maximum temperatures around 38–42 °C (100–108 °F). The coolest part of the year is January, with minimum temperatures around 18–20 °C (64–68 °F). The city gets most of its seasonal rainfall from the south-west monsoon winds although a good deal of rains greet these parts during the northeast monsoon from mid-October to mid-December. Cyclones in the Bay of Bengal frequently hit the city. Prevailing winds in Kakinada are usually southwesterly for most part of the year except during October to January when they blow north-easterly. The city experiences an average annual rainfall between 110 and 115 centimetres.
Kakinada pronunciation (help·info) is a city and a municipal corporation in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located 465 kilometres (289 mi) east of the state capital, Hyderabad. It is also the headquarters of East Godavari district. It is nicknamed “Fertilizer City” (owing to the large concentration of fertiliser plants), “Pensioner’s Paradise” and “Second Madras”. The city had an urban population of 312,936 in 2011, making it the sixth largest city by area and the ninth largest city by population in Andhra Pradesh. Its population consists of 157,573 males and 155,363 females. The sex ratio of Kakinada city is 1046 per 1000 females. It is spread over an area of 190 km2.
16.93°N 82.22°E. The 82½ degrees east longitude, with respect to which IST (Indian Standard Time) is calculated, passes through Kakinada. It has an average elevation of 2 metres (6 ft) and many areas of the city are below sea level. The city has roughly a north-south orientation and is confined to a long narrow strip parallel to the sea coast. The average width of the city is around 6 km but its length is around 15 km. It can be divided into two broad regions. The city in the south called Jagannathapuram is separated from the rest of the city by Buckingham Canal. A couple of bridges connect these parts. This canal and its branches form Medaline Island, which abuts the city in the southwest.
As a city located on the sea shore, Kakinada is a railway terminus. It has railway stations, namely Kakinada Town Junction(CCT) (1.2 km), Kakinada Port(COA) (1.8 km) and Sarpavaram (6.5 km), Kakinada is connected to Samalkot Junction (13 km) which is on the Chennai-Howrah trunk line, where almost all express trains stop to connect Kakinada with the important places of the country. There are direct daily trains running to Hyderabad, Secundrabad(a/c express), Mumbai (Bi-weekly), Bangalore, Chennai, Tirupati, Shirdi(tri weekly) and Bhavnagar (weekly) and also special trains running all through the year to Hyderabad and Ernakulam.
Cricket is the most popular game followed by badminton and athletics. The city is home to a number of local cricket teams participating in various district and zonal events. Kakinada has a cricket stadium used for Ranji Trophy matches. The East Godavari District Sports Authority has a vast sports campus in the city with many sporting facilities. An indoor stadium and a swimming pool are also located in this campus. Tennis is being taught to school and college students by KTA(Kakinada Tennis Academy) at the tennis courts of Rangaraya Medical College A roller skating rink is present at Vivekananda Park for skating enthusiasts.
People of Kakinada enjoy spending the hot summers in the shallow waters of Bay of Bengal. As tides are not intense and as the water is shallow people enjoy playing in the waters of Bay of Bengal. Devi Multiplex, Janmabhoomi Park, Gandhinagar park and Vivekananda Park are other places people here love to hang out. Most of the people living in kakinada are belonging to middle class who enjoys by going to movies, parks, small hotels, roadside foods. Generally the people in this town are calm and decent. The temples are very pleasant, turning the people devotional. A varied number of cultures are followed here.
Though Kakinada is some what known for tourism, it has some very good places in and around to visit, like ancient temples, some beaches, mangrove forests and Godavari delta. The Union Territory of Yanam on the banks of River Godavari,25 km south of Kakinada, is making rapid strides in Tourism. A replica of the world famous Eiffel Tower, 100m in height, is being built there. AP Tourism is trying to promote the Konaseema region (30 km from Kakinada), into a tourism hub. Below is a list of places in and around Kakinada that may be of some interest to visitors.
The city of Kakinada is run by the Kakinada Municipal Corporation, consisting of elected representatives and a commissioner. The city is divided into 50 wards and each ward elects a corporator through direct ballot. A mayor is elected for the entire city among the elected corporators by indirect ballot. The commissioner who is an IAS is appointed by the state government. Apart from this, the city is represented at the state level in the Andhra Pradesh State Legislative Assembly by two MLAs and at the federal level in the Lok Sabha by an MP.
In the late 1940s (around the time of Indian independence) there was little industry in or around Kakinada, and the local economy consisted mainly of agriculture and fishing. Until the early 1980s (before the fertiliser companies started their operation here), the local economy was mainly based on the textile industry, auto parts, steel industry related ancillary units, agriculture and fishery industries. Today, Kakinada’s economy has a diverse industrial base thanks to an established sea port and port based industries.
Kakinada is a major educational center with several schools, colleges and universities. Many among the younger generation are migrating to the cities like Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and out of the country in search of opportunities that meet their scale of ambition. However, there are significant parts of the society that have ridden the boom by expanding their businesses and investments. The local population is supplemented by immigrants who have left their villages to seek work and opportunity in this bustling city.
These choultries take applications at the start of the Academic year (June). Netha Varga Samkshema Sangham (Weavers Hostel): This hostel is located at Mantripragada Street which provides accommodation to Economically Backward students (Priority is given for students from Weavers Community) collecting only Maintenance Charges (around Rs. 150/- per month). But due to lack of proper administration and funds this Hostel is about to close. For details of this hostel visit www.weavershostel.hpage.com
In 2010, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board awarded the City Gas Distribution project for Kakinada city to Bhagyanagar Gas Limited, a consortium of GAIL and Hindustan Petroleum. The construction work is underway to supply gas to Kakinada city and the surrounding towns of Samalkot, Peddapuram and Pithapuram, thus making Kakinada the first city in Andhra Pradesh to get piped gas supply for domestic, commercial and industrial purposes along with Hyderabad and Vijayawada.
The northern part consists of the more modern part of the city and its recent outgrowth. The eastern part is separated from coastline by an industrial belt, running north-south through the entire length of the city. The city is bordered in the south east by Kakinada bay and a marshy wetland, home to India’s second largest mangrove forest and Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary. One of the branches of the mighty River Godavari, the Gouthami, flows into the Bay of Bengal at this point.