The software industry in

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

state in India has become one of the main pillars of the state's economy. Karnataka stands first among all the states of India in terms of revenue generated from software exports, accounting for 41.6% of all software exports from the country during the financial year of 2018–19. Karnataka's capital city

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

has the sobriquet of ''

Silicon Valley of India Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

'', with total IT exports worth

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

53 billion during the financial year 2021–22, employing 1 000 000 people directly and 3 000 000 lakh indirectly. Though most software companies are located in Bangalore, some have settled in other cities like

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ker ...

Belgaum Belgaum (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Bēḷagāma''; also Belgaon and officially known as Belagavi) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka located in its northern part along the Western Ghats. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous ...

and

Hubli Hubli, officially known as Hubballi, is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. The twin cities Hubli–Dharwad form the second largest city in the state by area and population and the largest city in North Karnataka. Hubli is in Dharwad distr ...

. The infrastructure required for setting up software industries in Karnataka is provided by

STPI Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) is an S&T organization under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) engaged in promoting IT/ ITES Industry, Innovation, R&D, Start-ups, Product/ IP creation in the field of emergin ...

. The software industry in Karnataka includes companies dealing with various fields like telecommunication, banking software,

avionics Avionics (a blend word, blend of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, ...

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...

, automotive, networking,

semiconductors A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical resistivity and conductivity, electrical conductivity value falling between that of a electrical conductor, conductor, such as copper, and an insulator (electricity), insulator, such as glas ...

mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...

handsets, internet applications and

business process outsourcing Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...

. Currently, out of total IT exports, 95% is from Bengaluru alone and the other Karnataka cities contribute just 5%. The Nandi Hills area on the outskirts of

Devanahalli Devanahalli, also called "Devandahalli", "Dyaavandalli", Devanadoddi, and Devanapura, is a town and Town Municipal Council in Bengaluru Rural district in the state of Karnataka in India. The town is located to the north-east of Bengaluru. Deva ...

is the site of the upcoming $22 billion,

BIAL IT Investment Region The Bangalore-BIAL ITIR is a 50 km2 (12,000 acres) IT Investment Region that was proposed in 2010 15 km north of Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru. On 15 July, the region received final legislative approval from the state ...

, one of the largest infrastructure projects in the history of Karnataka. This project is expected to create over four million jobs by the year 2030.

Origin

Starting in the 1980s, Karnataka emerged as the information technology capital of the country. A total of 1973 companies in Karnataka are involved in Information Technology related business including big firms like

Infosys Infosys Limited is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational information technology company that provides business consulting, information technology and outsourcing services. The company was founded in Pune and is headquartered in Ba ...

and

Wipro Wipro Limited (formerly, Western India Palm Refined Oils Limited) is an Indian multinational corporation that provides information technology, consulting and business process services. Thierry Delaporte is serving as CEO and managing director ...

who have their headquarters in

. The origin of the growth of the software industry in Karnataka seems to have been the entry of

Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits, which it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers globall ...

which was the first multinational to set up base in Sona Tower, Millers Road,

in 1985.

was searching for a location to set up their overseas development centre in India in the early 1980s. They first looked at the states of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu but when both states refused permission, Karnataka was approached with a condition that land allotted must be near an airport. The then chief minister of Karnataka Gundu Rao agreed to their terms and granted land near the

HAL Airport HAL Airport is an airport that serves Bangalore, the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Located about 12 km east of the city centre, it has one runway and operates 24/7. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), a state-owned defence company ...

in Bangalore. Texas Instruments currently has a big facility in

Bagmane Tech Park Bagmane Tech Park is a software technological park in India. The park is situated at CV Raman Nagar in Bengaluru. This park is built and maintained by Bagmane Group. The park shares its boundaries with HAL and DRDO and is near the HAL Airpo ...

in Bangalore near the airport. There were many factors conducive to the development of the software industry in Karnataka state. One factor is the presence of large numbers of top grade science and engineering institutions like

IISc The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a Public university, public, Deemed university, deemed, research university for higher education and research in science, engineering, design, and management. It is located in Bangalore, Bengaluru, in ...

NITK National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), also known as NITK Surathkal, formerly known as Karnataka Regional Engineering College (KREC), is a public technical university at Surathkal, Mangalore. It was founded in 1960 as KREC while to ...

, B.M.S. College of Engineering, BVB,

Malnad College of Engineering Malnad College of Engineering (MCE) is an engineering college located in Hassan, Karnataka, India. It was established in 1960, during the second 5 year plan of India, as a joint venture between the Government of India, Government of Karnatak ...

MSRIT Ramaiah Institute of Technology (RIT), formerly known as M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology (MSRIT), is an autonomous private engineering college located in Bangalore in the Indian state of Karnataka. Established in 1962, the college is affi ...

, NIE,

SJCE JSS Science and Technology University, or in its full name Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara Science and Technology University, formerly Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering (SJCE), is a private university located in Mysore, Karnataka, ...

RVCE Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering (RVCE or RV College of Engineering, ''Rāshtrīya Vidyālaya Tāntrika Mahāvidyālaya'') is an autonomous private technical co-educational college established in Bangalore, India in 1963. RVCE is reco ...

, PESIT,

SDMCET Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College of Engineering and Technology (also called SDMCET) is an autonomous private engineering college located in Dharwad in the state of Karnataka, India. It was established in 1979 and is affiliated under ...

and around 200 engineering colleges. The software industry requires large numbers of skilled engineers which are regularly churned out of the engineering colleges in Karnataka. The presence of Public sector undertakings like

BEL BEL can be an abbreviation for: * The ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code for Belgium * ''BEL'' or bell character in the C0 control code set * Belarusian language, in the ISO 639-2 and SIL country code lists * Bharat Electronics Limited, an Indian stat ...

, HAL,

BHEL Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) is an Indian Public Sector Undertakings in India, central public sector undertaking. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Heavy Industries, Government of India. It is based in New Delhi, India. ...

, ITI and

BEML BEML Limited, formerly Bharat Earth Movers Limited, is an Indian Public Sector Undertaking, headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. It manufactures a variety of heavy equipment, such as that used for earth moving, railways, transport and ...

gave ready access to manpower as well as trial opportunities of newly developed software. There were many advanced laboratories like

NAL NAL or Nal may refer to: In organizations: * Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary, in India * National Aerospace Laboratories, India * National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan * National Alliance of Liberals, a political party in Ghana * United States Nat ...

and

ISRO The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...

in and around Bangalore which provided necessary basic knowledge required for software development. The successive state governments have been proactive in providing necessary facilities for growth of the industry. The salubrious climate of Bangalore also helps in the growth of the software industry there.

Effects

There has been both positive and negative effects of software industry's tremendous growth. The per capita income of state has risen. Cars once considered a luxury has become a commodity, often leading to traffic jams and unavailability of space for parking. More people are traveling abroad for work as well as for tourism. Growth in income has had an effect on the real estate prices with the land rates skyrocketing. Land prices have shot much beyond rate of inflation and in some places rate of land doubles every two years. Agriculture has slowed down as people find it more lucrative to sell the land rather than use it for agriculture. The surge in income of software professionals has led to increased interest among youth opting for computer science and information technology courses in college. The basic science, arts and commerce fields have felt a shortage of quality manpower.

External links

Webpage of STPI, Bangalore

Bangalore cluster: Evolution, growth and challenges - An examination of the IT industry in Bangalore

References

{{reflist Economy of Karnataka Information technology industry of Bangalore Software industry in India Software companies of India

Software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

Information technology organisations based in India

Origin

Effects

External links

See also

References