City will soon lose Infosys edge to Pune

Thanks to the apathy of successive Karnataka governments, the company has decided to shift its operational base to Pune. Within a year, its Pune campus will surpass the Bangalore headquarters both in terms of employee strength and the built-up area

Sameer Ranjan Bakshi

     

Posted On Friday, January 21, 2011 at 02:31:04 AM

Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India. The tag has been the city’s pride. But now, it is about to be robbed of the tag — blame it on the apathy of  successive state governments. Over the years, the netas had been busy getting land allotted promptly to their kith and kin at throwaway prices. And companies like Infosys Technologies, the mascot of Indian infotech industry, had been kept waiting for the land it needed for expansion. Infosys made several representations to successive governments, seeking land near Sarjapur Road, but got nothing apart from bundles of assurances. The company waited quite some time, expecting the state to grant it land for setting up a second software development centre in the city. But in the end, it ran out of patience and shifted expansion plans to Pune. Now, Infosys, though headquartered in the city, will have its largest operational base in Pune. Speaking to Bangalore Mirror, T A Mohandas Pai, human resources director, Infosys, said there had been a shift in the focus of the company, which was once synonymous with Bangalore. “In another 12 months’ time, Pune will have more seats/employees than our Bangalore campus,” he said. Even the Infosys-Pune campus would soon become bigger than that of Infosys-Bangalore. But why would a Bangalore-based company choose to strengthen its base in Pune? After all, Bangalore is the information technology (IT) capital of India. An IT industry source said, “The move has got nothing to do with the cost factor. Blame it on Karnataka’s political indifference and bureaucratic laxity in land allotment and registration.” Pai said, “It is easier to get land in Pune than in Bangalore. For three years we tried in vain to complete the land registration process in Bangalore. Now, we have more land in Pune than Bangalore. Honest people can’t work in Bangalore.” Asked whether the shift in Infosys’s focus would affect Brand Bangalore, Pai made no comment. But IT industry sources painted a grim future. According to them, the political situation in the state is making IT companies change perception about Bangalore as their preferred base. The “corrupt” leaders and the “lethargic” bureaucracy have frustrated India Inc time and again. So, the companies have decided to shift base. “Giants like TCS and Wipro have kept Bangalore out of their major expansion plans. HCL is looking at centres like Chennai and Pune. The semi-conductor industry, too, is shipping out of the city to Noida and Pune,” rued a source. Bureaucrats, when told about the bleak scenario, chose to keep mum. One among them, who has recently served in the infrastructure department, said, “There are so many conflicting signals sent out by our political bosses that we prefer to adopt the wait-and-watch policy.” Tell-tale figuresA recently-released fact sheet pertaining to Infosys’s third quarter (Q3) results for fiscal 2011 has outlined how its Pune centre is all set to overtake Bangalore both in terms of number of techies employed and built-up area of the company campus.  Infosys-Bangalore currently has 28,905 employees. In Pune, it will soon have 32,914 employees. An IT-industry tracker told Bangalore Mirror, “Conventionally, a corporate firm has the maximum number of employees working at its headquarters. However, things might turn out very different for Infosys Technologies, as its Pune centre has grown much more than its Bangalore HQ. Brand Bangalore will take a beating as it is proof that IT firms are looking for greener pastures away from the tech capital of India.” Even in terms of campus size, Infosys-Pune will be bigger. The built-up area of Infosys-Bangalore is 42,94,728 sq ft, while the Pune campus will soon expand to 54,07,284 sq ft. “On both the parameters — employee strength and campus area — Bangalore will fall behind Pune on the Infy turf,” the industry tracker commented.