Is Bangalore losing its sheen ?

Is Bangalore losing its sheen ? This and other relevant questions were addressed at the CEO Conclave, on the theme "Brand Bangalore - The Toast of IT" as part of BangaloreIT.In. CEO Conclave was organized by STPI and the Karnataka Govt's IT Dept., in association with Times of India.

Eminent High Profiles panelists included

S Gopalkrishnan, President and COO, Infosys Technologies
Bob Kondamoori, Managing Partner, Sandalwood Capital Partners
Frank Jones, President, Intel India
Ghanshyam Dass, MD (Asia Pacific), Nasdaq Stock Market
S. Sadagopan, Founder-Director, International Institute of IT
Subash Menon, Founder Chairman, MD & CEO of Subex
Vivek Kulkarni, Chairman and CEO of Brickworks India
M N Vidyashankar, Secretary, Karnataka govt's department of IT
B V Naidu, Director, STPI, Bangalore/Hyderabad

The discussion was moderated by Times of India Resident Editor H S Balram.

Following thoughts emerged from the discussion

Negativities about Bangalore

- Too much corruption in government
- Traffic jams and other infrastructure problems
- No single window clearance unlike other states like Tamil Nadu
- Slow functioning government with lack of urgency to solve city problems
- Expensive Workforce with salaries going over the roof
- Rising Competition from emerging cities with lesser costs and better lifestyle

Positives

- Good functioning and facilities by STPI and also it being corruption free
- Proactive Industry Participation
- Widespread Innovation culture
- High Quality of Talent
- Expats prefer to live and work in Bangalore
- Offers lifestyle choice , pubs/malls/multiplexes/good schools etc.
- Rapid work underway to expand infrastructure, though may take upto 2 years.
- Large number of VCs present in Bangalore

Recommendations

- Create a short term and long term plan with milestones, roadmaps
- More responsibility and participation from Industry and work together with government and academia
- Private Public Partnership in Infrastructure Development
- Creating Satellite Towns in and around Bangalore
- Upgrade engineering institutions
- Cut off red tape in Government
- Further foster innovation culture

Regards
Ajay Sanghani
CEO, ITVidya.com