I spent last week with a client team visiting various
vendors in Bangalore, It was my 3rd visit in the last 12 months – for many in the client
team it was their first time anywhere in India. It was interesting to see
things from their perspective – good and otherwise.
I had suggested they read the two books about Bangalore I had written
about here. We stayed at the Leela, a fine hotel, and visited the
impressive campuses of several suppliers in the planned development called Electronic City and elsewhere in Bangalore. Friedman describes the modern Bangalore in his book. Infosys told us their
campus is now a favorite destination for a number of visitors to India. Not
quite as popular as the Taj Mahal, but close. To and fro to the campuses, we
went by clogged streets, farmer’s markets, cows – the old Bangalore Sankaran
describes in her short stories.
The New Bangalore is increasingly annoyed with the Old and
trying to offset the inadequate infrastructure. Many of the vendors bus their
employees in, are encouraging car pools, privately paying for cops to smooth
traffic flow, training the bus drivers to a “higher civic sense”. More non-stop flights from Europe to Bangalore are coming
later in the year. (Lufthansa is the only Western carrier today with direct
service). The vendors are also actively, if reluctantly, building campuses in
other cities to reduce dependence on Bangalore.
The pervading feeling through the week reflected two themes
– confidence and youth. Confidence that the vendors can take just about any IT
activity or white collar process, and given some time can learn it and optimize
it using Six Sigma and other disciplines. Youth reflective of India’s median age of 25. The
campuses are extensions of universities with amphitheatres, gyms, cafes –
beehives of activity.
Confident, young staff being bused around – did not Andersen
Consulting (Accenture) do well with that model in the 80s and 90s? Did it also
not create a back lash in a number of IT buyers? The Indian vendors seem
oblivious to that.
In her book, Sankaran’s first short story is titled “Bombay This” It is a
swipe on India’s
leading commercial city (now called Mumbai) – with some of the most expensive
real estate in the world. It is a bit
like Dallas taking a shot at New York City.
Well, you get what you ask for. Bangalore prices are starting to reflect Bombay's. The Leela goes at $ 300+ a
night (at negotiated corporate rates – much more if you just call in), $ 23 a
day for WI-FI access, $ 10 for a beer and so on. I said the Leela was fine, but
it is overpriced by a factor of 2.5. If there were better hotels closer to Electronic City (I am told they are coming) few visitors would pay its rates.
Bangalore has a lot going for it. It needs to
remember, though, that the reason visitors are coming is not for the old city,
but the economic advantage promised by the new. The inexperience and the growing
inflation can only dilute the advantage the Murthys and the Premjis have fought
so hard to build.
