Electronics City

Electronics City is a vast industrial complex in India, spanning more than 1.3 square kilometers in land area. A formidable collection of building and interconnecting roads, Electronics City straddles the neighboring villages of Konappana Agrahara and Doddathogur, and is located just outside Bangalore proper. Many of the more recognizable names in the IT industry have their headquarters here, attesting to the area's drawing power. Some of the more noteworthy companies that have offices in Electronics City are Hewlett Packard, Infosys, CGI, and Siemens.

Electronics City was the dream project of R.K. Baliga, who served as the first Chairman of Karnataka Electronics as well as the Managing Director of its Keonics division. Baliga planned Electronics City with the idea of making Bangalore India's own Silicon Valley after the famous industrial area in the United States. Unfortunately, Baliga would not live to see his dream come to fruition, since he died in 1988.

With the death of Baliga, it was the liberalization of India's economy as championed by the likes of P.V. Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh that would give Electronics City the push that it needed to develop into a viable industrial park. It was then that Electronics City grew to the industrial giant that it is today.

In 1997, ELCIA or the Electronics City Industries Association took over much of the maintenance work of Electronics City, after being given the responsibility by Keonics.Representatives from all divisions were then assigned to implement local governance and management policies.

There are currently three phases to Electronics City, namely, Phase I, Phase II and Phase III. Phase I and Phase II lie on opposite sides of Hosur Road. It was the development of Phase 2 that opened the door to more and more companies setting up shop in Electronics City. Unfortunately, this also caused a corresponding worsening in the traffic conditions leading to Bangalore. In November 2004, work was begun on a 9 kilometer elevated road that would help ease traffic congestion somewhat. The project of the Indian government, the road was an indication that big plans were still in the making for Electronics City.

The building of the highway is actually quite timely, given the presence of many high profile industries in the area. With the establishment of offices and facilities by such heavyweights as Sasken, Convergys, Audi, BMW, Honda, General Motors and many others, Electronics City is definitely in a position to benefit from newer and bigger development projects.

Arslan writes about electronics city.For more information on electronics city see http://www.acircutcity.com.