Bangalored

Bangalored
Hyderabad knows where it is one up
Financial Express

The Andhra CM, YS Rajasekhara Reddy, is a smart man. Capitalising on the IT industry’s disenchantment with Bangalore, he is now busy selling his state to IT investors. And where best to do it, if not in the heart of India’s Silicon Valley, Bangalore? What is even better is that he is doing it not on the basis of tax sops, but on better infrastructure and better governance.

As anyone who has been to the two state capitals in recent times will vouch, there is no comparison between them. If it takes one hour or more to traverse the 10 km from Bangalore airport to the city, the same distance in Hyderabad can be covered in less than half an hour. Not only Hyderabad, many tier-II cities—including Gurgaon, Pune, Kochi, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and even Kolkata—are offering alternative investment locations with better roads and lower costs of living, while also supplying the requirements of quality manpower and attractive IT policies. Ahmedabad offers superior roads; Kerala says it has no land allotment crunch like Karnataka and so on. Erosion in infrastructure support is also becoming a factor in higher levels of attrition across Bangalore-based firms, nudging them to look at other locations. So, here’s a lesson: past glories are not enough, as competition for pulling in new investment among states is heating.