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Aurangabad - Know the city

{jathumbnail off}Aurangabad was founded in 1610 A.D by Malik Ambar, the Prime Minister of Murtuza Nizam Shah of Ahmadnager, on a site of village called Kharki. He then made it his capital and within a decade Kharki grew into a populous and imposing city.

Aurangabad was Ambar's architectural achievement and creation as he cherished strong love and ability for architecture. After his death in 1626, he was succeeded by his son Fateh Khan who changed the name of Kharki to Fatehnagar. In 1633, the Moghuls captured the Daulatabad along with Fatehnagar and took it's possession. In 1653, when Prince Aurangzeb was appointed as Viceroy of the Deccan for the second time, he made Fatehnagar his capital and called it Aurangabad. Hence, Aurangabad takes it's name from the last of the great Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

Aurangabad district is one of the 35 districts in the Maharashtra state of western India and the only Tourist district of India having two heritage monuments to its credit. The caves of Ajanta and Ellora are designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Aurangabad furnished a genial sil for the spread of the religion of Islam and was the centre of great missionary in the 8th century of Hijri. The district is home to the earliest of Sufi saints of the Deccan. The town of Khuldabad contain the shrines of the most famous saints of the Dakhan.

Aurangabad District is rich in historical monuments and heritage including Ajanta, Ellora, Daulatabad and Bibi Ka Maqbara. Besides this, there are large number of caves of exquisite beauty at Aurangabad caves and Pitalkhora.

There is evidence to believe that Aurangabad was developed as a trading hub from centuries ago. It lies major trade routes that used to connect noth west India's sea and land parts in the Deccan region. The city was a major silk and cotton textile production centre. A fine blend of silk with locally grown cotton was developed as Himroo textiles. Paithani sarees are also made in Aurangabad. With the opening of the Hyderabad-Godavari valley railways in 1900, several ginning factories was started.

After 1960, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) began acquiring land and setting up Industrial Estates which later flourished as Industrial hub.

There are many renowned establishment from India as well as from Multi National Companies which has setup in Aurangabad. Some of them are, Skoda Auto, Videocon, Bajaj Auto, Garware, Wipro, Lupin Wockhardt, Goodyear, Siemens, Johnson & Johnson, Can-Pack India, Sterlite Optical, Colgate-Palmolive, Greaves Cotton, Mahyco Seeds etc.

Aurangabad is emerging as one of the fastest developing city with many companies approaching the cityp to setup its unit. There are companies that manufacture auto parts and components for the automotive sector, Pharmaceuticals, breweries, consumer durables, agriculture and biotech products, plastic processing, aluminium processing etc.

Hospitality sector in Aurangabad is also picking up. Major luxury hotels that exists here are, The Ajanta Ambassador, ITC Welcome Group's The Rama International, The Taj Residency, The Lemon Tree (formerly The President Park), Hotel Vitz and Aurangabad Gymkhana.

Industrial Zones of Aurangabad: There are presently three Industrial zones in Aurangabad which are prominent. 1) Shendra 2) Chikalthana and 3) Waluj MIDC. These are located on the outskirts of the city.