When you mention the phrase Silicon Valley, most people immediately
think of San Francisco, CA, and justifiably so.
However, there is a rapidly growing group of highly skilled and driven engineers in Bangalore, India that are quickly making names for themselves in the tech start-up ecosphere.
The rise of Bangalore as a tech startup city was a relatively recent phenomenon. The original founding began in the mid-70s when the Indian government appropriated land on the outskirts of the city for the sole purpose of developing an electronics haven for IT start-up companies. A city in which the country's best and brightest would gravitate to. Their prophetic dreams came true and companies were drawn to Bangalore like moths to a flame.
In the early 80s, companies like Infosys, Wipro, and most notably Texas Instruments relocated to Bangalore. Companies and government officials recognized that Bangalore was a fertile area for young and ambitious engineers. The educational system had restructured their budgets and reallocated resources into teaching computer science and engineering. It wasn't a cornfield, but they built the foundation and they came.
Global IT companies like Texas Instruments felt an overwhelming compulsion to set up shop in Bangalore given the enormous pool of skills workers, the low cost of labor relative to the US and European markets, as well as the economic incentives offered by the Indian government.
As of 2017, the Bangalore economy owns a significant percentage of India's GDP at about 35% of 2.5 million of India's IT professionals. Estimates of the city's GDP vary widely from modest one of $45 billion to $83 billion (PPP GDP).
Like Silicon Valley, California, the Bangalore economy has created a significant concentration of wealth for the successful IT start-up firms like Flipkart and Ola Cabs.
Reminiscent of the California 'Gold Rush' of the 1850s, many venture capitalists and brokerage firms like Goldman Sachs began calling Bangalore home in search of wealth and opportunity.
Top ten cities for technology and telecom billionaire wealth worldwide, 2015 (in billion U.S. dollars-Statista.com)
Not only has Bangalore become a concentration of wealth, but those successful start-ups have begun showing off that wealth in order to attract the best and brightest in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Shown above is the lobby for the new Flipkart building located in Bangalore. The contemporary look, feel, and architecture of Bangalore offices now rival those of western cities like New York and Berlin.
In highly dynamic and competitive global tech and labor markets, Bangalore has proven itself to be an up and coming force to be reckoned with. The future of start-ups, both near and far looks very bright.
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