Infosys in Bangalore City will soon Move Edge to Pune
A fact-sheet pertaining to Infosys’s third quarter (Q3) results for fiscal 2011, released recently, has outlined how its Pune centre is all set to overtake Bangalore, both in terms of the number of employees and the built-up area of the company campus.
T A Mohandas Pai, director (human resource), Infosys, confirmed the shift in the company’s focus. “In another 12 months’ time, Pune will have more seats/employees than our Bangalore campus. Pai said, “It is easier to get land in Pune than in Bangalore. For three years, we tried in vain to complete the land registration process in Bangalore. Now, we have more land in Pune.”
Asked how the shift in Infosys’s focus was going to affect Bangalore, Pai made no comment.
Infosys-Bangalore currently has 28,905 employees, while its Pune campus will soon have 32,914 employees. An IT-industry tracker told Mirror, “Conventionally, a corporate firm has the maximum number of employees working at its headquarters. However, things might turn out very different for Infosys Technologies, as its Pune centre has grown much more than its Bangalore HQ. Brand Bangalore will take a beating, as it is proof that IT firms are looking for greener pastures away from the tech capital of India.” Even in terms of campus size, Infosys-Pune will be bigger. The built-up area of Infosys-Bangalore is 42,94,728 sq ft, while the Pune campus will soon expand to 54,07,284 sq ft. “On both the parameters – employee strength and campus area – Bangalore will fall behind Pune on the Infy turf,” the industry tracker commented.
But why has a Bangalore-based company chosen to strengthen its base in Pune? “Infosys has seen something in Pune, which is definitely not available in Bangalore. Pune has many educational institutes so hiring people is not a problem and Hinjewadi IT park is outside the city, so traffic congestion is not problem like in Bangalore,” Abhijit Athawale, founder, Pune Chips told Pune Mirror.
IT industry sources in Bangalore painted a grim picture. According to them, the political situation in Karnataka is making IT companies change perception about Bangalore as their preferred base.
The netas have been busy getting lands promptly allotted to their kith and kin at throwaway prices, but India Inc has been frustrated time and again by the lethargic bureaucracy.
“The move has got nothing to do with the cost factor. Blame it on Karnataka’s political indifference and bureaucratic laxity in land allotment and registration,” said one IT insider requesting anonymity.
Infosys made several representations to successive governments, seeking land near Sarjapur Road as part of its expansion plans, but got nothing apart from a bundle of assurances.
Posts
