Bangalore Crumbling revisited

‘Bangalore crumbling’
The Indian Express

Vandita Mishra The Economist revisited Bangalore last week and framed the predicament: the city’s IT industry urgently needs a helping hand from the government it has done so well to keep at arm’s length. ‘‘India’s IT industry has thrived in part because, unlike most other sectors of the economy, it has largely kept the government out of its business. That period is coming to an end’’.

The magazine spotlighted the bleak signs of neglect which, as it acknowledged, were spotlighted by the series ‘Bangalore crumbling’ in the Indian Express in December last year. India’s IT boom town that has firmly lodged itself in the world’s imagination as the most favoured workplace away from home is becoming a city of unavoidable traffic jams, idling building sites, water shortages, unpredictable power supply, an airport which refuses to take off. And a government that doesn’t seem to really care.


In the end, the Economist concluded that Bangalore may not become a serious constraint on its own growth. This is because of the sheer range of work now drawn into the IT and BPO industries, its enormous potential for further expansion, and India’s large and high-quality talent pool. Said the magazine, ‘‘India’s advantages are so great that, however bad its aim, it will be hard pressed to shoot itself in the foot.’’ But the question weighing down the optimism came out sharp and clear: Will Bangalore’s strengths be forced to leapfrog over its wilting infrastructure? Or will the government step in to help the city?