Traffic, water shortages, now floods: the slow death of India’s tech hub?

Last week, after the city’s heaviest rains in a decade, Malur slum along with some parts of Bengaluru was submerged in waist-deep water, disrupting the southern metropolis’s IT industry and tarnishing its reputation.

Due to the traffic congestion and lack of water in the winter months, residents have been complaining about the city’s infrastructure.

But the flooding in winter has raised new questions about the continuation of rapid urban development, especially if weather conditions become more erratic and severe due to climate change.

“It’s very, very sad,” said Pullanor, who was born near Yemalr but now lives in the western city of Mumbai, which, like many urban centers in India, experiences occasional flooding.

“The trees are gone. The parks are gone. There’s chock-a-block traffic.”

Big businesses are also complaining of escalating disruptions, which they say can cost them tens of millions of dollars in a single day.

Bengaluru is home to more than 3,500 IT companies and 79 “technology parks” – marketplaces that host offices and recreational spaces for technology workers.

Walking through flooded highways last week, multinationals including JP Morgan and Deloitte struggled to access state-of-the-art glass-fronted buildings in and around Yemalr, where multinationals work with large Indian startups.

Millionaire entrepreneurs were among those forced to flee flooded living rooms and dump swampy bedrooms on the backs of tractors.

Insurance companies said initial estimates for property losses ran into millions of rupees, with the number expected to rise in the next few days.

‘Global Influence’

The latest turmoil has sparked fresh anxiety for India’s $194 billion IT services industry, which is clustered around the city.

“India is a technology hub for global enterprises, so any disruption here will have a global impact. Bangalore, being an IT hub, will be no different,” said KS Viswanathan, vice president of the industry lobby group National Association. Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM).

Bangalore was renamed Bengaluru in 2014.

NASSCOM is currently working to identify 15 new cities that can become software export hubs, said Viswanathan, who is heading the project.

“It’s not an anti-urban story,” he told Reuters. “As a country, we do not want to lose revenue and business opportunities due to lack of infrastructure.”

Even before the flooding, some trade groups, including the Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA), led by executives from Intel ( INTC.O ), Goldman Sachs, Microsoft ( MSFT.O ) and Wipro ( WIPR.NS ), warned it was insufficient. Bengaluru’s infrastructure may encourage companies to leave.

“We have been talking about these for years. We have reached a tipping point and all companies are on the same page,” ORRCA general manager Krishna Kumar said last week on Bengaluru’s infrastructure woes.

By the early 1970s, more than 68 percent of the Bengaluru region was covered by vegetation.

In the year The city’s green cover fell to around 45% in the late 1990s and less than 3% of its total area of ​​741 square kilometers by 2021, according to an analysis by TV Ramachandra of the Indian Institute of Science (IISC), Bengaluru.

Green spaces help absorb and temporarily store rainwater, which helps protect built-up areas.

“If this trend continues, 98.5% (of the city) will be smothered in concrete by 2025,” said Ramachandra, who is part of IISC’s Center for Ecological Sciences.

City in decay

Rapid urbanization, often accompanied by illegal constructions built without permission, has damaged Bengaluru’s nearly 200 lakes and the network of canals that once connected them, experts say.

So, when heavy rains hit the city like last week, the drains, especially in low-lying areas like Yemalr, could not be maintained.

The state government of Karnataka, where Bengaluru is located, announced last week that it would spend 3 billion Indian rupees ($37.8 million) to help control the flood situation; This includes removing unauthorized developments, improving drainage systems and controlling water levels in lakes.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai told reporters that “all attacks will be dealt with without mercy.” I will personally go and check it out.

Officials have identified 50 illegally built areas in Bengaluru. Those include high-end villas and apartments, said Tushar Girinath, Chief Commissioner of the Bengaluru Civic Authority.

Last week, the state government announced that it would set up a Bengaluru traffic regulator and begin discussions on a new flood drainage project on a major highway.

Critics have called the initiatives knee-jerk.

IISC’s Ramachandra said, “Every time there is a flood, we only discuss it afterwards. “Bengaluru is rotting, dying.”

($1 = 79.4130 Indian Rupees)

By DEvjyot Ghoshal in NEW DELHI and Nivedita Bhattacharjee in BENGALURU Additional reporting by Nandan Mandayam in BENGALURU; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Raju Gopalakrishnan

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