Industry leaders press govt for area-specific fixes to Bengaluru's infra woes

IT companies, startups, and global capability centres (GCCs) in Bengaluru are pushing for targeted, locality-specific solutions to infrastructure problems such as traffic congestion, waterlogging, and poor road quality, which take a toll employee retention and operational costs.

The call for localised action gained momentum at a Greater Bengaluru IT Companies and Industries Association (GBTICA) event on Saturday, where corporate bosses from across the city discussed infrastructure challenges.

The meeting saw participation from state labour minister Santosh Lad, former Rajya Sabha MP MV Rajeev Gowda, and Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) chief commissioner M Maheshwar Rao.


The event follows a recent meeting that IT/BT minister Priyank Kharge had with the leadership of multinational companies along the Outer Ring Road (ORR), where similar concerns were raised.

But the infrastructure crisis extends far beyond the ORR, said industry leaders during yesterday’s meeting. Indeed, companies across the city face different challenges, depending on the location. In Jigani, industrial firms deal with roads damaged by heavy vehicles, and high particulate pollution. Emerging hubs like Devanahalli are already anticipating gridlock. And areas beyond the reach of the metro see employees commute for hours.

This has an impact on talent retention. Canada-headquartered CGI, which provides IT consulting and software development services, has lost employees over commute concerns, said Raghav Kumar, VP of product engineering, CGI.

Kumar said he's witnessed the problem worsen over the past 15 years. Even employees living adjacent to metro lines request work-from-home, citing commutes that stretch into the afternoon.

Varsha Kakati, the operations head at HR services company TriNet's GCC, called for a working committee focussed on execution, right down to fixing potholes.

Shailesh Trivedi, delivery lead at TCS, said cost arbitrage and availability of talent brought companies to Bengaluru, but that's no longer sufficient. "You cannot stop there. As a city you have to add more things."

Kamal Batra, director of learning services at Canadian software firm OpenText, which has nearly 6,000 employees in India, said the challenge extends beyond building infrastructure to running it effectively. He said that industrial areas suffer from bad roads due to the movement of heavy vehicles.

Rao explained that the GBA is working to establish direct points of contact with firms to address their issues. Girish H K, president, GBTICA, said the organisation has expanded beyond its initial base to include companies from the Global Village to Electronic City, Whitefield to Manyata Tech Park. "Many companies from ORR are moving to Whitefield with the arrival of the metro there," he said.