[India] ‘Hyderabad, Bangalore are not rivals’

["Irfan Khan" <KhanIA@super.net.pk>]

'Hyderabad, Bangalore are not rivals’

N Venugopal
HYDERABAD 23 JULY

NOTWITHSTANDING the apparent rivalry, especially in the media, between
Bangalore and Hyderabad, ever since the latter entered the Indian
information technology (IT) scene, a top official of the Karnataka
government emphasises that there is no such rivalry. Speaking to The
Economic Times here, Mr Sanjoy Das Gupta, secretary, IT, government of
Karnataka, said it is high time that the entire country should stand as
one, when "we do not even share 1 per cent of global turnover in IT". "We
are extremely happy that Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune are developing as
support centres. Even in the US, it is not that 100 per cent activity is
taking place in the Silicon Valley alone. It has Austin, Dallas, Seattle,
Chicago, Massachusetts, Boston, Pittsburgh, etc," he said. Commenting on
the IT developments outside Karnataka, Mr Das Gupta said that a very
healthy start has been made with support systems in the region. "No elder
brother grudges a younger brother. Ultimately, it does not help anybody to
point out we are better than them, that is a bit school boy level," he
added. In the global context, marketing India is very important and any
kind of local rivalries between individual states only benefit our global
competitors, he said. India's efforts should be against those of China, the
Philippines, Ireland, etc, he said. Tracing the roots of predominance of
Bangalore, Mr Das Gupta said that Bangalore emerged over a period of 50
years as a natural habitat for software industry. "It is not a one-man show
and did not happen overnight," he said. From Rs 5 crore exports in 1992 it
is Rs 3,500 crore today. The government is projecting exports to reach
between Rs 10,000 and 12,000 crore in next few years, with employment
touching a million mark. Currently, Karnataka has 2,500 companies spread
all over the state. "The recent survey on the top technical cities by
Newsweek has put Bangalore in the top 10. It is not our survey done by our
own PR people. We should be proud that Bangalore is the only city in the
whole of south and south-east Asia to figure in the list," he said.
Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute (SEI) has
recently decided to set up certification centre at Bangalore. "This is not
vis-avis other cities in the country, but against a stiff competition from
many countries," he said. Admitting that the occupancy at International
Techno Park was at 65 per cent, he added that "they are choosy about the
quality of occupancy. They do not want travel agents and banks to fill up
the space." With about 90 MNCs setting up headquarters in Bangalore, the
state government feels that it is imperative to have a plan for future IT
development. The government is creating centres like Mangalore focusing on
e-commerce, Hubli on IT-enabled services and Mysore on embedded systems.
"In fact, Mangalore's growth is out of the blue. From zero exports in 1997-
98, it achieved Rs 120 crore in 1998- 99," he said. Reacting to the comment
that Karnataka delayed in setting up IIIT, Mr Das Gupta said that they were
never in a hurry. "Maturity might appear to a casual observer as slowness,
but a discerning observer will realise," he said. Earlier, addressing
reporters, Mr Das said the Karnataka government is organising Bangalore
IT.COM'99 during the first-week of November 1999, as continuation of its
efforts initiated last year to host the largest information technology (IT)
event in the country. The show, spread over 20,000 square metres is
expected to attract over 500 companies to show case their products,
services and state-of-the-art technologies. To be held at Electronics City,
the exhibition will have five focus pavilions dedicated to sectors such as
Linux, ERP and e-commerce. infrastructure and home. The event is expected
to attract over two lakh visitors and provide a broader platform for
participants to launch new products and to meet the challenges and rewards
of the new millennium. The event is organised by the Electronics City
Industries' Association (ELCIA) and managed by Cyberexpo. The US department
of commerce will be the global partner for this year's event. An area of
6,000 square meters has been dedicated to companies from the US to showcase
their technologies. This would also provide an opportunity for fund
managers to meet service providers and will enable Indian companies to look
for joint ventures. The government of Karnataka is also in consultation
with the European Commission for a similar partnership.

http://www.economictimes.com/today/24tech02.htm