Corporates are all praise

Paeans for the city flow, almost an invitation for many more to follow. Ganesh Natarajan, deputy chairman and MD, Zensar, says, "The city has talent, with people who are comfortable building a career here rather than wanting to migrate to the US." Sudip Banerjee, chief executive, operations, Wipro, says, "We decided to come to Pune because of the availability of local talent and excellent infrastructure facilities being offered by the Maharashtra government." Such comments are expected of Pune, long called the education capital of India.

The large number of outstation students has also influenced the cultural face of the city. Deepak Shikarpur, chairman, IT sub-committee, Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, says, "A cosmopolitan work set-up encourages talent from other parts of the country as well. Couple this with pleasant weather, facilities almost comparable with India’s main metros and a lower cost of living. With such comforts in his pocket, the IT professional is free to concentrate on his core function!"

After the recent initiatives by Pune’s Vidya Prathisthan, IT education has even spread to rural Pune. An IT center has been set up with an investment of over Rs 12 crore. Shikarpur says, "Soon farmers from this village will start selling their foodgrain on the Net." No wonder that with such quality talent emerging from Pune’s institutes, city-based development centers churn out top-quality software work.

Advantage infrastructure

Pune also scores on the infrastructure front. Banerjee says, "We are happy with our experience, particularly with state government agencies like the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corp, which has been most cooperative." He has reason to be happy; the Wipro center at Hinjewadi STP was up in just eight months. Real estate and infrastructure availability forms the basic framework to set up any business, and Pune offers both of good quality in ample measure. Agrees Murali Santhanam, MD, JobCurry Systems, "Pune has certain inherent advantages that contribute to the growth of IT here. The biggest factor is the ample scope of real estate development around the city. This means that emerging as well as growing IT companies need not acquire large premises in the heart of the city in order to succeed. The setting up of STPs and business centers on the outskirts has effectively led to emerging townships in these areas."

Among the IT parks coming up in the city, apart from the DoE’s STPI Pune, are the Pune IT Park, Magarpatta Cyber City, the Kharadi Knowledge Park and the Software Technology Park at Talawade. All provide ready-to-occupy plots with 24-hour electricity, and dedicated telephone exchanges and earthstations for bandwidth. And as a bonus, the Pune Municipal Corporation has permitted software development centers to be set up in residential premises, which has further boosted IT growth. Remember, Infosys was born out of a two-bedroom flat in Pune.

Shikarpur feels the day is not far when Pune will have more IT companies than beauty parlors. "Even intelligent housewives will start Net development in the traditional cooperative style from the city," he predicts.

Pune scores in yet another area: the converging IT and BT sectors. RK Arora, executive director, CDAC, says, "Pune can develop disciplines like bio-sciences, bio-informatics and genomics." He feels institutions like NCL, NCCS, CDAC, Bio-informatics center of Pune University are equipped to take this newly emerging area to greater heights. Arora says, "This will decidedly distinguish Pune from other city destinations in India—converging IT with BT." The Hinjewadi Phase II project coming up near the present Infotech Park will be called the "IT-BT Park".

Bottlenecks remain