WILL 'you are Bangalored' soon be replaced by 'you are Mangalored' or 'Mysored'? With 1,300 IT companies and over 200,000 tech workers already in Bangalore, the city is bursting at the seams. Both the social and physical infrastructure have been unable to keep up with new IT investments that the city has attracted. Every week at least two new companies set up operations in Bangalore. And the first four months of 2004-05 have seen 61 IT companies set up operations in the Garden City.

In a state that, in 2003-04, boasted IT export revenues of $4 billion (95 per cent of which came from Bangalore), Mysore and Mangalore hold promise of attracting new investments. Mysore's proximity to Bangalore, located about 160 km away, is a good selling point. And Mangalore alone contributed Rs 460 crore to the state IT revenues last year.

With Bangalore getting crowded, the government is looking to attract companies to the two cities. Further, bad roads, poor air connectivity, congestion, load shedding and lack of schools could prove to be the Achilles heel for the city. Industry major Infosys has threatened to move out Bangalore citing poor infrastructure. The city's tardy infrastructure also received flak from Wipro's Azim Premji. The company plans to increase new operations in Kolkata, Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad.

There are plans on paper to address the problems of Bangalore. Says M.K. Shankaralinge Gowda, IT secretary, Karnataka: "The problems of Bangalore are being addressed with new projects. These include Rs 300 crore to be spent on new roads, developing a six-lane Mysore-Bangalore highway and attracting businesses to create social infrastructure like entertainment plazas. In the next few years, Mysore and Mangalore will emerge as the hot new cities."

Under the Bangalore plan, seven new flyovers would be coming up in the city, in addition to seven railway overbridges. The Karnataka Housing Board also plans to construct 10,000 new houses to meet increased demand. The number of government-supported engineering colleges in Mysore and Mangalore will also be increased. Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), Bangalore, is setting up incubation centres in the two cities. These will provide the basic plug-and-play office infrastructure. STPI has already set up earth stations (Internet gateway) at Mysore and Mangalore.
The state's showcase event Bangalore IT.com, scheduled for 1-5 November this year, will be a springboard to attract new investments to the secondary cities in Karnataka. And with Pune and Kolkata striving to become better IT destinations, one can expect the competition among cities to increase. How many new 'Bangalores' will this create? That remains to be seen.