The Hindu Business Line : `Bangalore has bagged Rs 900-cr investment from 65 tech cos'

IN spite of its compounding infrastructure woes, Bangalore has managed to attract investments of over Rs 900 crore from 65 new technology companies in the last four months, Government officials said on Wednesday.

"This represents an increase of around 20 per cent over the corresponding period last year," said Mr B.V. Naidu, Director of Software Technology Parks of India, Bangalore. Of the 65 new firms, about 45 are 100 per cent foreign equity firms.

The majority of the new firms are funded by venture capitalists and operate in the technology design space. Target is among those that have set up shop in Bangalore , Mr Naidu said.

The availability of skill sets and the `Bangalore' brand has attracted these firms. "A bulk of these firms find the IT industry in Bangalore much more qualitative. This sort of a cluster is not there anywhere else in the country," Mr Naidu said.

Over 1,600 IT firms are operating in the city. Software exports from Karnataka have grown by 20 per cent in the first quarter, said the State's IT and BT secretary, Mr M. K. Shankarlinge Gowda. The State is targeting a 35 per cent growth for both software and hardware exports, which stood at Rs 30,000 crore last year.

Mr Gowda said the State Government expects to finalise the tenders this week for the construction of the proposed Biotech Park in Electronics City. The park , spread over 85 acres, has elicited a good response from 25-28 biotech firms.

`Good response to Bangalore.in': Mr Gowda said that the technology event Bangalore.in has evoked a positive response. "We expect the response to be around last year's level," he said. Till date, about 11 companies have confirmed their participation in this year's event.

Referring to the recent reports of some technology firms planning to boycott Bangalore.in, Mr Gowda said that none of these firms have conveyed their intention to do so. Moreover, this would not affect the event, he said.

On the infrastructure concerns, Mr Gowda said the Government, through the new Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP), expects to make available more land for infrastructure , which should take some time.

Apart from the worsening road traffic, Bangalore faces no other infrastructure issue, Mr Gowda said.

The empowered State committees to look after infrastructure have representatives from major IT companies on board and they are aware of the latest status of various projects, he said.

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