India diary, day 11: I heart Bangalore

Wednesday 14 February - Bangalore

Everybody has told me that Bangalore is choking. And it is, on traffic and money.

As soon as I leave the airport I can see that the tech industry has made its mark on this city.

Special Report: Inside India

In February silicon.com's Steve Ranger visited the Indian tech hotspots of Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad to explore the exploding Indian offshore tech and BPO industry. Keep up with his daily diaries here.

♦ India diary, day 1: Cyberbad on Sunday
♦ India diary, day 2: Emergency calls and rural life
♦ India diary, day 3: Inside the outsourcing campus
♦ India diary, day 4: Hyderabad's tech park
♦ India diary, day 5: Margaritas to Mumbai
♦ India diary, day 6: Prime Minister's question time
♦ India diary, day 7: Mobiles in Mumbai
♦ India diary, day 8: Pune or bust
♦ India diary, day 9: An auto-rickshaw ride and a catwalk show
♦ India diary, day 10: Lost in Pune
♦ India diary, day 11: I heart Bangalore
♦ India diary, day 12: Searching for the next big thing
♦ India diary, day 13: Thirsty in Bangalore

High-rise buildings with masses of blue glass are scattered around the area by the airport adorned with the logos of some of the biggest names - IBM, Intel, Reuters. Then it's through a green garden suburb and on to the hotel. Much more than anywhere else I've been, the impact the IT industry has made is very obvious.

Unlike Pune, which suffers from bad roads, Bangalore just has lots and lots of cars, and the fumes they bring with them.

It's not that there is so much more traffic than you get in central London - it's just that where in London you would have two lanes of traffic going in one direction, here there are at least three lanes in the same space, with overloaded two-wheelers weaving in and out.

I was up before dawn to make the flight from Pune to Bangalore. It was chock full of techies - many wearing their IT company identity lanyards around their necks already.

It's Valentine's Day, which has taken off in a big way here in India, and it's another celebration that the BPO industry can use as an opportunity to have a bit of fun in the office to keep the typically young staffers motivated.

According to a local newspaper report, managers at one BPO centre will be giving roses to staff - although just in case readers think this might be a bit racy, it adds "everything will be monitored to avoid unnecessary complications".

Another paper has a less savoury tale to tell. It's not just the roads that are jammed up in Bangalore - the increase in call centre and multinational companies moving in has put the sewer system under great stress, it reports. The two stories illustrate well how the IT industry is putting pressure on India - both on its culture and infrastructure.

My morning meeting has been moved to later in the afternoon so I take the opportunity to have a look around downtown. There's a main street crammed with mini-malls and Western chain stores - KFC, Levi's and Subway - as well as adverts for iPods.

It's a much more recognisably Western shopping centre than anything I've seen elsewhere so far. I pass a billboard ad for Tesco's offshore IT operations - Tesco HSC - proudly trumpeting its technology skills.

Then it's time to head off to Electronics City - the technology park on the edge of town. I've been told it takes a while to get out there so I head out early. The roads in Bangalore are much better than the roads in Pune but the traffic is much worse. It takes about an hour to cover the 20km out to Electronic City and along the way I pass many gleaming towers built for the tech companies that have moved into Bangalore.

Still, this doesn't mean the town is now a gleaming metropolis - there are still plenty of smaller, dustier shops along the way catering to the needs of the locals untouched by the IT invasion, although in the town at least there seems to be less of the poverty I have seen elsewhere.

My first meeting is with the International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore - a graduate tech school which sits opposite the giant Infosys campus.

I'm introduced to professor Sadagopan who runs the school. His office is like some kind of technology entrepreneur speed-dating party, with people popping in and out as we chat, being introduced, networking, sharing an idea and then disappearing again.

It's fantastic fun to meet so many people enthused about technology and India's potential. I have lunch with a couple of students who are full of energy and the desire to make their own mark on the tech industry.

Then I'm off across the road to meet with Infosys at its giant campus. It's so big - big enough for 17,000 workers - that the tour is conducted from one of a fleet of golf buggies.

While most of the buildings conform to the standard polarised blue glass and white concrete look favoured by many tech companies, there are a couple of new buildings that look as if they have been beamed in by aliens.

Then it is time to head back into the town. And through the traffic I finally see what I've been waiting for. A cow in the road. It's sitting in the central reservation looking pretty relaxed and the traffic is slowing down and driving past carefully. I wish I could feel as calm in the rush hour.

Have you visited India to check out the outsourcing options? Or have you been affected by offshoring here in the UK? We want to hear your stories and thoughts about offshoring. Post your comments below or email editorial@silicon.com.