Bangalore gradually losing IT hub crown

Bangalore, long regarded the capital of India’s information technology (IT) industry, is facing stiff competition from cities such as Chennai, Hyderabad and Noida as preferred destinations for investment in IT-related special economic zones (SEZs).

Not only the crumbling infrastructure in Karnataka’s capital is to be blamed for the shift but also credit should go to the education system and the vibrant industrial culture of Tamil Nadu.

Four of India’s five largest IT and IT-enabled services (ITeS) vendors, including Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), Infosys Technologies Ltd, HCL Technologies Ltd and Cognizant Technology Solutions Pvt. Ltd, are now earning the largest chunk of their SEZ revenue from outside Bangalore.

Software export revenue from SEZ units in Tamil Nadu totalled Rs8,152-crore in 2009-10, higher than the Rs7,993 crore accumulated by similar SEZs in Karnataka. Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh, saw annual software export revenue from SEZs grow fivefold to touch Rs3,254-crore in 2009-10. Noida witnessed the largest number of new SEZ registrations at 132, against 77 in Bangalore.