Govt.'s unkept promises: Cos to boycott BangaloreIT.in

Cos to boycott Bangalore IT.in

The Hindu Business Line

`Last year's promises have not been kept and no progress has happened on the infrastructure front.'


BANGALORE'S prestigious infotech exhibition IT.in (previously known as IT.com) has hit a roadblock.

Irked by the State Government's `empty promise' to improve the city's infrastructure, several Bangalore-based IT companies have decided to boycott the annual IT show in October this year.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Bobby Mitra, CEO, Texas Instruments India, said, "The current infrastructure (or lack of it) in the city has frustrated us and we have decided to get out of this year's IT.in to be held in October."

Terming the action as IT.out, Mr Bob Hoekstra, CEO, Philips Software Center, said, "Last year's promises have not been kept and no progress has happened on the infrastructure front." It may be recalled that in a similar move last year, Bangalore-based multinational IT companies had announced a boycott of IT.com 2004. The decision was reversed later based on assurances by the Government that infrastructure would be given priority and there would be progress soon.

Mr Mitra maintained that this decision was irreversible and the companies would consider participation in the IT show next year (2006), "based on real results". State Government officials, were, however not available for comment.

According to Mr Mitra, other companies that endorse this view include SAP Labs, Sun Microsystems, Synopsys, HP, Novell, Bosch, Sasken and vMoksha.

Earlier this month, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology, while announcing the launch of Bangalore IT.in, had assured Bangaloreans that the government will "do everything from our side to help you navigate easily from your homes to office."