Think start-ups, the first city that comes to mind will be Bangalore. Not for nothing is it called the Silicon Valley of India — weather, the enabling environment and all. If you happen to ask where Chennai figures on the start-up map, not many will have a positive reply.

But that is not entirely the case. Chennai is thriving with technology start-ups and has everything going for it. It may not be as visible as Bangalore, Mumbai or Delhi, but it is definitely there, right at the top.

“Chennai is the best in the country for IQ per rupee,” says George John Vettath, Managing Director, Kallos Solutions, a technology start-up. “If you want a start-up done and want your first part of a product done, it is better to do it here,” says George, a 25-year veteran in enterprise applications, who started off on his own.

‘tremendous innovation’

Agrees K. Thirugnanam, CEO of Ascenders Technologies, another start-up: “I would say that at least 10 start-ups are coming up daily.”

Chennai, according to Som Mittal, President of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), the IT industry’s trade body, has everything going for it. It has a large number of engineering institutions that throw up high-quality graduates.

Umesh Sachdev, CEO, Uniphore Software Systems, says Chennai has a good support ecosystem for start-ups. Umesh, who is from Delhi, decided to start his venture in Chennai at the IIT-Madras incubation centre. “There is tremendous quality of innovation,” he says.

The success and the quality of a start-up depend a lot on the support system available. There will be those that get funding and those that do not require any, at least in the initial stages.

“That kind of support ecosystem is available in Chennai [and] is driving a lot of start-ups to come up. For example, I came from Delhi because IIT Madras offered this support to me,” adds Umesh.

Even in terms of venture capital firms, not many have a presence in Chennai. That does not deter the entrepreneurs. “They make special trips for us while doing due diligence,” points out Umesh.

Marketing challenge

As Nasscom’s Mittal points out, after the Tidel Park — an IT park developed by the State Government — came up, the entire infrastructure developed. The already good educational system, too, picked up.

This is how an ecosystem develops, one feeding from the other, says Mittal. What started with software services has now moved to products, too, according to him.

George of Kallos admits that for some reason, Chennai continues to be low-profile. He also agrees that in terms of angel and venture capital investments, there are fewer deals involving Chennai-based companies.

But, there are other issues that make up for these. Loyalty of the employees is a huge advantage. Says K.C. Raju, Managing Director, Sphata Systems Pvt Ltd, “I am fortunate to start my company in Chennai. I found people are more loyal. We are into service business and we have three offshore development centres. We are able to control the attrition rate within five per cent. People are very energised.”

As Umesh says, any city has its negative and positive aspects. One of the issues he found challenging was in finding employees in the middle to senior level management cadre. “Culturally, moving to Chennai (from other cities) is a big question mark.” He does not find it an issue with regard to recruiting in the technology domain, but sales and marketing is a big challenge.

Is social infrastructure the issue? Yes, says Umesh. People compare Chennai with Bangalore and how IT changed everything there 20 years back. “Chennai may take another five to seven years to change,” adds Umesh.

George, however, feels that such a change is just round the corner. “To me, it is not five years, but one year away,” he asserts. To prove his point, he highlights the growing number of restaurants serving varied cuisine. “We are moving very rapidly,” he says.

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