Once Sleepy Bangalore, Retirees’ Haven in Colonial Era, Becomes India’s Silicon City

Once a sleeping haven for retirees in British colonial times, Bangalore today is India’s version of Silicon Valley.

It manufactures about one-third of the total electronics output of the country and 80% of its professional electronics equipment.

R. Murali, who quit a government job 15 years ago to set up a successful television component factory, said Bangalore’s advantages are obvious. “It’s a lovely city and I like the fact that it’s dust-free,” he said.

For many years after India’s independence from Britain in 1947, Bangalore was mainly a pensioners’ paradise, known for moderate weather and for its lakes, parks and British-style clubs.

Situated in southern India about 200 miles inland from Madras on the Bay of Bengal, Bangalore had one of the country’s largest British military populations and was the only territory directly ruled by London, over the head of the British viceroy in India.

Its temperate climate--the temperature ranges from 68 to 80 most of the year--makes the city ideal for makers of high technology products.

But a variety of other factors combined to make Bangalore an upscale metropolis and one of the 10 fastest-growing cities in the world.

“Industrialization in Bangalore started in the early 1970s,” said Vinod Vyasulu, a professor at Bangalore’s Institute of Management. “It was brought about by the cheapest electricity rates in the country, a ready-made transport infrastructure and cheap, skilled labor.”

The number of industries in the city has risen from about 600 in 1975 to about 2,000, according to T. M. Shirur, a state government official. At least half of them are connected with high-technology manufacture, he said.

Labor is perhaps the most important factor for industrialists setting up in Bangalore. The city’s work force largely rejected labor unions and strikes are rare.

Michael Lee, an urban affairs specialist with the U.S. Agency for International Development, said Bangalore is India’s premier science city because of the availability of “a pool of brains.”

Scientific talent is plentiful because Bangalore is the home of the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Management, both regarded as premier schools for advanced study, Lee said.

U.S. AID is scheduled to put up $12 million to open a center for technological development in Bangalore. It will organize training programs for workers and provide support services to industry.

The U.S. company Texas Instruments has set up a plant, and joint venture factories with Indian firms have been formed by Motorola of Illinois and Pacific Intelidata of California.

India’s government also has set up state-owned factories making electronics gear, aircraft, watches and telecommunication equipment.

Lee compared Bangalore’s attractions to those that drew electronics manufacturers to Silicon Valley in California, areas in the U.S. Southwest and Route 128 around Boston.

But Bangalore’s growth also has brought problems. The population has risen by 76% over the last decade and is now estimated at 4 million.

Residents complain that services have failed to keep pace and that water, electricity and transport systems fall short of demand.

Longtime citizens complain that Bangalore is no longer the garden city it once was. Some insist that the temperature is higher, robbing Bangalore of one of its attractions.

But a study of Bangalore’s climate shows no appreciable change in air temperatures since 1870. The study concedes, however, that urbanization might have changed the “microclimate”.