Silicon Valleys of India

California, US, in the early seventies saw thegovernment policies like vast acres of land at
mushrooming of semi-conductor and computerconcessional prices, abundant power and water and a
industries. The high concentration of these industriesfriendly tax regime, many IT giants from developed
in the Santa Clara valley in California, led journalistcountries zoomed in on Hyderabade. US computer
Don.C.Hoefler to coin the term 'Silicon Valley' in 1971.software giant Microsoft Corporation, led by the
With the passage of time, as these industriesubiquitous Bill Gates, set up their first full-fledged
expanded into other areas, the whole semiconductorfacilities in Hyderabad, throwing open the gate to all
and computer industry in California came to beand sundry to follow suit. Hyderabad has not looked
known broadly as the Silicon Valley.back since and has carved a neat niche for itself as a
Definitions and origins apart, today the term SiliconHI-TECH city.
Valley signfies growth in computer and computer chipChennai, in the southern state of Tamilnadu, has all
industries. It is synonymous with advancement inalong been ridiculed as a 'glorified village' because of
research and development relating to computerits' hard-to-shake-off penchant for rustic way of
hardware and the basiclife.During the mid 1990s, in the wake of the opening
components.Hewelett-Packard or HP ,present dayup of the Indian industrial sector , Chennai too woke
computer major, was the first industry to be basedup to the immense potentials of foreign direct
in the Silicon valley, soon to be followed by suchinvestment and the consequent growth possibilities.
giants as Bell Laboratories, Compaq, Dell and so manyThe state administration, not keen on being left
others. The flourishing industries in the verdant statebehind, rallied to bring about radically business and
of California, became the very centre of thegrowth oriented policies. These policies accorded
Computer and IT business and soon became theseveral concessions like subsidised power, water and
topmost happening-place in the world.tax rates to the entrepreneurs. Special zones named
Many developed and developing countries looked toTECHNO PARKs were set up through government
these major players in Silicon Valley for the latestinitiatives to promote IT firms. Several firms like
technology and computer hardwares. Inspite of theCISCO, Sun,Oracle, SAP along with Indian firms like
passage of almost four decades since the firstHCL, Acer and others came to Chennai and profited
silicon-chip unit was set up in California, the US statefrom these beneficial policies. Chennai today has
still retains the numero uno position in the world. Suchexported vast numbers of IT skilled professionals and
sustained success stories are hard to come by andlead the Indian surge in offshore outsourcing in the
inspired by the phenomenal success of Silicon Valley,areas of software development and hardware
several countries including IT superpower Japan haveengineering.
set up exculisve townships with hi-quality productionIn the meanwhile , much was happening in the North.
facilities for the manufacture of not only semiThe state of Gujarat, long believed to be lying
conductors and computer hardwares,but softwaresdormant, led the drive towards rapid industrial and
and applications too.infrastructural development. Ahmedabad , the bustling
India has traditionally been a late-starter in technology, teeming city, known for its' textiles business, shifted
and industrialisation. Computer industries and othergears and played host to several US IT Firms.
ancilliary units did not merit consideration of either theGhaziabad and Gurgaon, bordering the national capital
government or the entrepreneurs here, till the veryof New Delhi, made great strides forward in
early Nineties.But with the opening up of privateindustrialisation . With the advantage of inheriting an
sector investment through the liberalisation andalready well-developed infrastructure, the city that
globalisation policies in early 1991, things begannever sleeps, Mumbai too joined the band wagon,
happening at an unbelievable pace. The thrust wasalbeit on a much smaller scale.
focussed on development of computer engineeringThese Indian cities could be today collectively called
and software development. Over the years, Indiathe Silicon Valleys of India for their significant
turned out highly skilled engineers and softwarecontribution to the country's foreign exchange
experts. This IT surge was led by the sleepyreserves and reduction of trade gap. The direct and
southern state of Karnataka.indirect employment potential, the export of quality
US IT firms watched these developments withsoftwares and hardware components, and the great
interest and soon became interested in investingbank of skilled manpower working abroad, ( eg: 80%
huge amounts of money for setting up computerof the alien workforce in Microsoft, is from India,
and IT related industries in Karnataka. Naturally theirespecially from Tamilnadu) - all these factors point to
attention was drawn by the quiet , beautifullythe immense success of the IT thrust made so
wooded city of Bangalore, until then a pensioners'belatedly by India. It can be safely assumed that
haven. With in the space of a few years IT industriesIndia has almost made up for the lost time, through
became heavily concentrated in Bangalore. Thesuch vigorous and sustained developmental activities.
Karnataka governement too rose to the occasion"What's in a name?", the great bard asked. Yes.
and made available guaranteed power at competitiveThere may not be much in a name. But Silicon valley
rates, tax concessions and prime land on lease forsure has some magic. The very name epitomises
these IT firms to set up shop. It was indeed abusiness success and embodies the spirit of human
matter of achievement that the Karnatakaendeavour.Blessed with great vision and business
Government had issued almost 20000 work permitsacumen, the Americans could successfully script the
to foreign IT experts to enable them to work inestablishment of a successful business enclave called
Bangalore.the Silicon Valley as early as the early Seventies. India
Although nobody thought of it at first, the namecan take pride in the fact that she could spawn a
'Silicon Valley of India' came attached to Bangalorefew Silicon Valleys, several decades later, through
almost quite unobtrusively. Today Bangalore, verygreatly focussed vision and thrust. Today the
much in line with the original Silicon valley,plays hostproducts of the Silicon Valleys of India are on display
to a large number of IT super firms like HP,Compaq,at the prime companies of the world. India today lead
Dell ,IBM, Apple-Macintosh,SAP etc and has thethe surge of technological innovation along with Asian
presence of Indian IT giants likemajors like South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan,
WIPRO,Infosys,Satyam etc. From being sleepySingapore, Hongkong and Thailand. For a country-
pensioners' city, Bangalore has today become abesotted by a host of issues like population,
bustling, hi-tech hub of IT and has found a place ofcorruption and hunger and besieged by corrupt
pride in the world IT map.politicians and money-mongering bureaucrats, - to
During the late nineties, another South Indianhave found a position for itself on the Technology
metropolis entered the scene , backed by strongmap, is no mean achievement. In fact it is a
governmental policies and committed infrastructurestupendous achievement.
development. Hyderabad, steeped in history andWe must hope for this pace of growth and
boasting of great cultural heritage and archaeologicaldevelopment to sustain. We must realise that there is
monuments, became of the focus of the IT industrynothing that cannot be achieved when the collective
in a very short span of time, almost dizzying in its'will and effort of a nation come together.
fast-paced growth. Riding on the crest of favourable