Infosys picks Hyderabad over Bangalore

Infosys picks Hyderabad over Bangalore
Bangalore's loss is Hyderabad's gain. Infosys Technologies has decided to set up its largest center in Hyderabad following the Andhra Pradesh government's offer to provide them land in a prime location in the city.
Money Control



A good 14,000 jobs in the IT sector. That's the price that the Karnataka government has to pay for delaying the sanction of land to IT major Infosys Technologies in Bangalore. The Andhra Pradesh government has offered the company 1,000 acres of land with a promise to build roads and create an IT city around the plot.



CFO of Infosys, TV Mohandas Pai says, "We have been treated with great respect and courtesy in Hyderabad. The Chief Minister and Government officials have been very kind to us and they understand the importance of a large investment in the IT sector. They have promised to build roads and create an IT city around the plot of land they have offered us."



Infosys is in the process of setting up a center in Hyderabad with a capacity of 10,000 jobs, which is expected to be ready by the end of 2006. The company was planning to set up a second center in Bangalore but talks with the government over the last five years have not yielded any positive results. The lack of adequate investment in infrastructure in Bangalore has also been a sore point between the Karnataka government and Infosys in the past.



"There is a sense of complacency in Bangalore that the whole world is coming to Bangalore and that Bangalore is a hot destination. But if you look at the data, on an incremental basis Bangalore has got less addition to people than it should have. I personally estimate about 20,000 jobs have been lost in the last 12 months because of capacity constraints," Pai adds,



Delays due to political infighting and poor infrastructure in Bangalore have prompted investors to look at other locations, particularly Hyderabad. And the most recent casualty was the multi-million dollar Fab unit by SemIndia. And now with Infosys too looking at expanding outside Karnataka, the Government will have to get its act together to retain investors within the State.