Friday, September 9 2005 17:49 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce today (September 9, 2005) announced that all its members have vetoed participation in the Bangalore IT.In 2005 slated to be held in November.

This collective stand has been taken in the wake of the Government's "apathy" towards infrastructure woes, particularly in the areas of traffic congestion, power shortage and airport infrastructure. The Government's lack of concern has subdued not just the IT industry pace, but has affected all industries and more severely the society. The protest comes from Bangalore Chamber's team of 450 members, 135 of them belonging to the IT and ITES segments.

Mr. Anant Koppar, President, Bangalore Chamber of Industry & Commerce said, "Companies are rightly concerned. Last year the Government promised adequate measures to address the issues. But the promise turned out to be hollow. Consider the last one-year. Infrastructure services have been deteriorating in and around Bangalore - a city which is supposed to hold tremendous technology promise.

Our intention is not to disrupt the event, which has consistently seen our support, participation and sponsorships in the last few years. The situation which prevails today is real and intense, and certainly demands drastic measures, or we stand to lose big time." Bangalore has become a pain-point and it's affecting all industries.

Bangalore, known as the Garden City & IT Capital of India will soon be seen as the pot- hole city of India. It is important to build infrastructure for the future but in the process we should not neglect the existing infrastructure in the city, which is deteriorating every single day. It is up to those responsible for roads to focus on repairing them to make them 100% motorable as against the 60% that is a reality today.

"The government and civic bodies are looking to big solutions to solve infrastructure problems instead of ensuring that the available infrastructure such as Power, Water and Roads are effectively utilised and maintained. The focus should be more on how to curb losses rather than expanding capacity, which means inviting more capital expenditure to generate more losses," said Mr. Koppar

The Bangalore Chamber strongly believe that unless there is tangible and visible improvement in infrastructure facilities, Banglore's boom will be history, dousing MNC enthusiasm and driving companies to take their expansion strategies to other states and even countries. The slowdown is already evident with the dwindling number of software firms choosing Karnataka as their preferred destination.

Statistics reveal as few as 30 new companies setting up their operations in 2004-2005 as compared to 52 in the previous year.

Notwithstanding the fact that some of the IT giants are threatening to move their base to other cities, Bangalore Chamber believes that there are several companies who are keen on investing more if the Government can convince them of a better immediate future for the city's infrastructure. The silver lining though is that most MNC's still believe in Bangalore's potential to offer much more to Global IT than it has ever done before.

About BCIC Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) formerly known, as GMCI is the apex Chamber of Industry and Commerce representing the large and medium industry in the State of Karnataka. It represents 95% of the Capital Investment and 90% of the labour employed in the Corporate Sector of the State.