Chandigarh, Coimbatore fast emerging as India's new IT hub

Melbourne, Aug 26 (ANI): Chandigarh and Coimbatore are fast emerging as India's new IT hub leaving behind traditional centres of Bangalore and Hyderabad, as information technology services grow at 20 per cent annually.

Chandigarh and Coimbatore are fast attracting technology companies and workers as inadequate infrastructure cripples the traditional centres of Bangalore and Hyderabad as well as country's financial hub, Mumbai.

Chandigarh, a well-planned city started by first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru is now attracting major IT groups, including Infosys.

It is known as one of the best experiments in urban planning and modern architecture in 20th century India.

Coimatore, the main southern city of Tamil Nadu, is a traditional textile centre. In the past few years it has attracted companies such as Wipro and Tata Consulting Services to newly developed technology parks.

In a report released 10 days ago, IT consultancy and analyst Gartner named Infosys, Wipro and TCS as the next three "megavendors" that will increasingly take on IBM Global Services Hewlett-Packard-EDS and CSC for major contracts.

"These vendors will increasingly be considered for strategic service deals and will augment, or in some cases replace, today's acknowledged megavendors in this space," the Gartner report says.

"Such a shift in the IT service landscape is a key trend that application development and sourcing managers need to understand and prepare for. Investment bank UBS has named Infosys and smaller firm Satyam as its best bets in the sector."

The Australian reported that the top five India-based IT companies have raised combined market share from 33 per cent in the 2004 financial year to 40 per cent in the 2008 financial year. (ANI)