Whitefield is a neighborhood of

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

in the state of

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Established in 1882 as a settlement for the

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

ns and

Anglo Indian Anglo-Indian people are a distinct minority community of mixed-race British and Indian ancestry. During the colonial period, their ancestry was defined as British paternal and Indian maternal heritage; post-independence, "Anglo-Indian" has a ...

s of

, Whitefield remained a quaint little settlement at the eastern periphery of Bangalore city till the late 1990s when the local IT boom turned it into a major suburb. It is now a major part of Greater Bangalore. Whitefield is Bengaluru's first tech corridor to be connected by

Namma Metro (), also known as Bangalore Metro or Bengaluru Metro, is a rapid transit system serving the city of Bengaluru, the capital city of the States and union territories of India, state of Karnataka, India. It is the Urban rail transit in India#List ...

. Namma Metro Purple Line passes through Whitefield. The locality is named after David Emmanuel Starkenburgh White, founder of the European and

Association which received 4,000 acres of land from

Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

Maharaja Chamaraja Wodeyar in the

19th century The 19th century began on 1 January 1801 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 (MCM). It was the 9th century of the 2nd millennium. It was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was Abolitionism, ...

History

In 1882, King Chamaraja Wodeyar X, the Maharaja of the Mysore State, granted of land to the Eurasian and

Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people are a distinct minority group, minority community of mixed-race British and Indian ancestry. During the colonial period, their ancestry was defined as British paternal and Indian maternal heritage; post-independence, "Angl ...

Association for the establishment of agricultural settlements at Whitefield, which lay within his territory. The association was then about 170 strong with a committee of 30 members. They were part of the formation of the only settlement in India that Europeans and Eurasians could call their own. Mr. White, the then president of the E&AI Association., took a lively interest in it and helped in its advancement which at the beginning was an uphill task. In the first decade of the 1900s, there were about 45 houses: 18 were on the village site and the remainder were on farms throughout the settlement and contained about of land fit for cultivation. The number of residents in 1907 was 130. Lord Connemara, the then governor of Madras (1890) and General Sir

Harry Prendergast General (United Kingdom), General Sir Harry North Dalrymple Prendergast, (15 October 1834 – 24 July 1913) was a British military officer who served with the Madras Army and the British Indian Army, Indian Army. He was a recipient of the Victor ...

, a British resident in Mysore, visited the settlement and lent support to the development of Whitefield. Subsequently, there were regular visits to Whitefield by the Bangalore District officials and high dignitaries from the

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency i ...

.Whitefield, the last of the Settlements, ... near Bangalore
/ref> The settlement was south of the Bangalore-Madras (now Chennai) line and a station was built. It led to the influx of residents and their families who worked at

Kolar Gold Fields Kolar Gold Fields (K.G.F.) is a mining region in K.G.F. taluk (township), Kolar district, Karnataka, India. It is headquartered in Robertsonpet, where employees of Bharat Gold Mines Limited (BGML) and BEML Limited (formerly Bharat Earth Mov ...

, about (by train) to the east. It became convenient for those working at KGF to catch a train (running 3 to 4 times a day) and return to their families. There were frequent trains running to Bangalore to the west (by train). Reaching the settlement from the railway station was possible only by writing a letter to Mrs. Hamilton (wife of a James Hamilton, the keeper of the Waverly Inn) who would arrange for a bullock cart trip for 8 annas. Whitefield railway station

Until the late 1990s, Whitefield was a small village. It has since become a major hub for the Indian technology industry. The Export Promotion Industrial Park (EPIP) at Whitefield is one of the country's first information technology parks— International Tech Park, Bengaluru (ITPB) which houses offices of many IT and ITES companies. Whitefield is a part of Bangalore city which is administered by the

Greater Bengaluru Authority Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) is the administrative body responsible for governance, urban planning, and civic service delivery across Greater Bengaluru (Bangalore). It was established on 15 May 2025, replacing the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanag ...

Infrastructure

Whitefield has started seeing a boom in residential construction since the latter half of 1990s and especially during 2002 and onwards. There are two major four-lane roads connecting Bangalore city with Whitefield – Whitefield road via Mahadevapura and Varthur road (HAL Old Airport Road) via Marathahalli. Both roads intersect with Karnataka State highway 35 (SH 35) which runs north–south (Siddlaghatta in the north to

Anekal Anekal (ಆನೇಕಲ್) is a major town and taluk of Bengaluru Urban district, part of the Bangalore Metropolitan Region. It is a major town in the suburbs of Bangalore, Bengaluru. The Chandapura-Anekal stretch is an emerging residential hu ...

in the south). The Whitefield railway station is about 3 km north of the Whitefield Bus stop. It lies on the Bangalore-Chennai route and is double and electrified, the

Krishnarajapura Krishnarajapuram (also spelled Krishnarajapura and often abbreviated as KR Puram or KR Pura) is an eastern suburb of Bangalore, the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is one of the zones of BBMP. It is from Bangalore City railway ...

- Whitefield railway station section is slated to be converted to a quadruple line. The station is slated to become a junction with a new Whitefield-Kolar (53 km; 33 miles) line being laid. Neighbouring the Whitefield railway station is ''Brindavan'', the ashram and winter residence of the Hindu spiritual leader Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. The Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) has a large inland container depot just off Whitefield road near ITPB. Shopping malls like Nexus Whitefield (earlier called The Forum Neighborhood Mall), Phoenix Market City, VR Bengaluru, Ascendas Park Square Mall and Nexus Shantiniketan Mall are in the Whitefield area. It also houses the renowned super speciality hospital, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Whitefield, inaugurated by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba on 19 January 2001, which offers all the medical services for free. Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre is the other major super-speciality hospital in Whitefield. Whitefield has extensive city bus connectivity with a wide range of services offered by BMTC. A Traffic and Transit Management Centre (TTMC) in EPIP is functional with schedules connecting it with most areas of the city. The much anticipated

project started catering to Whitefield under Phase 2 from 26 March 2023. The Purple line has been extended to cover stations from

to Whitefield (Kadugodi) covering 13 stations in between. This 13.71 km long route was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 March 2023. Whitefield suffers from water shortages especially during summer months as the whole region relies almost entirely on groundwater. With the increase in housing and office space, the demand has been multiplying over the years, and groundwater depletion has been worsening alarmingly. BWSSB is supplying the region with water under the Cauvery Water Supply Scheme Stage IV, Phase II. BWSSB has been granted Rs. 1000 crore for water projects in 2012 including supplying water to areas of Greater Bangalore which includes Whitefield.

Geographic location

There are two main roads serving this area – Whitefield Road from

and Whitefield Main Road from

Varthur Varthur is a suburb situated in the Eastern periphery of Bangalore City and part of the internationally famous Whitefield township. Varthur is a Hobli and part of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike. Varthur was a Legislative Assembly in th ...

. From HAL Old Airport Road and Kudhanahalli Gate is direct link between Central City and Whitefield .On 2 November 2020, Whitefield recorded its poorest air quality since the lockdown due to COVID-19. On 24 January 2021, residents petitioned the authorities to save the neighbouring Pattandur Agrahara Lake. They demanded removal of encroachments and rejuvenation of the water body by the city corporation. Most of the People live in Varthur, Thubhannahalli, AECS Layout, Kudhanahalli Gate area, BEML layout and Nallurhalli because they are located close to major tech companies.

Food and leisure

There are multiple malls and food hotspots in and around the Whitefield area, some of them include - * ITPL Mall ( Park Square Mall) * Nexus Shantiniketan Mall * Phoenix Marketcity * VR Bengaluru * Nexus Whitefield * The Den(a luxury hotel/resort) These malls host multiple restaurants that cater to a variety of cuisines – Regional

Indian cuisine Indian cuisine consists of a variety of regional and traditional cuisines native to the Indian subcontinent. Given the diversity in soil, climate, culture, ethnic groups, and occupations, these cuisines vary substantially and use locally av ...

s, Japanese,

fast food Fast food is a type of Mass production, mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. ''Fast food'' is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheat ...

, etc. The Den, in particular, is very special because it helps businesses host many of their business meetings. This hotel/resort is also known for catering different kinds of cuisines. Additional prominent standalone restaurants in the area apart from the ones hosted in malls include - * Stoners (burger and ice cream franchise) * Windmills Craftworks (restaurant and micro-brewery) * Pasta Street (Italian cuisine) * A2B – Adyar Ananda Bhavan (South Indian restaurant franchise)

Gallery

File:Caterpillar at the RMZ NXT Building in Whitefield Road Bangalore 2-25-2012 4-56-54 PM.JPG, Caterpillar at the RMZ NXT Building File:Societe-Generale-Whitefield-Bangalore.jpg,

Société Générale Société Générale S.A. (), colloquially known in English-speaking countries as SocGen (), is a French multinational universal bank and financial services company founded in 1864. It is registered in downtown Paris and headquartered nearby i ...

Building at Whitefield File:Avaiator-Building-Whitefield-Bangalore.jpg, Aviator Building File:Mercedes-Whitefield-2.jpg,

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

Research and Development Centre File:The-Den-Bangalore.jpg, The Den Hotel File:Forum-Mall-Whitefield-Bangalore.jpg, The Forum Value Mall File:Phoenix-marketcity-BLR-1.jpg, Phoenix Market City File:Sathya-Sai-Hospital-Whitefield-Bangalore.jpg, Sathya Sai Hospital File:ITPL-Whitefield-Bangalore1.jpg, A building in ITPL File:K Raheja Comerzone (Inorbit Mall + Star Hotel + Office Tower) 2-25-2012 5-24-07 PM.JPG,

Inorbit Mall Inorbit Mall is a subsidiary of K. Raheja Corporation which runs shopping malls in various parts of India. The first Inorbit Mall opened in 2004, in Malad, Mumbai. This is the fourth oldest shopping mall in Mumbai, from Infiniti Mall of Andhe ...

(defunct)

References

External links

{{Neighbourhoods of Bangalore 1882 establishments in India Populated places established in 1882 Neighbourhoods in East Bengaluru