Silicon Valley of India

Bagmane tech park houses many IT companies

The Silicon Valley of India is a nickname of the Indian city of Bangalore. The name signifies Bangalore as a hub for information technology companies in India.^[1] It is a reference to the original Silicon Valley of the San Francisco Bay Area, which is the major hub for information technology companies in the United States.

Nomenclature

One of the earliest mentions of this sobriquet occurred in late 2012 by CNN.^[2] The more prevalent application of the nickname Bangalore began in the 1990s^[3] based on a concentration of firms specializing in research and development (R&D), electronics and software production.

History

The Silicon Valley was the brainchild of R. K. Baliga. He was the first Chairman and Managing Director of Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation (in 1976 the government agency was created to expand the electronics industry in the state of Karnataka. Baliga proposed the concept of developing the Electronic City in the 1970s. The agency purchased 335acres of land 18km south of Bangalore for its Electronics City project, which was meant to establish an industrial park in Bangalore. Not withstanding complaints by the industrial park's tenants on the condition of the roads, power and water availability, KEONICS claimed initially that the title of Silicon Valley of India belonged to the city's Electronics City campus.^[3][4]

See also

• Silicon Gulf, the "Silicon Valley of the Philippines"
• Zhongguancun, the "Silicon Valley of China"
• East London Tech City, the "Silicon Valley of London"
• Silicon Wadi, the "Silicon Valley of Israel"

References