Beyond Bengaluru: Spreading the digital bet

“We started up here simply becaapply we didn’t want to leave this place. We love the beach and the coast, and we wanted to build something without letting go of any of it,” declares Mayur Shetty, CEO at BlackFrog Technologies, a medical device manufacturing company based out of Manipal. His career decisions, he declares, were shaped by the question of what he could do to avoid relocating to Bengaluru.The sentiment may resonate with many.The IT boom of the 1990s catapulted Bengaluru to being the economic powerhoapply that it is today. The city’s contribution today to the State’s GSDP is disproportionately large at 43%. But the economic prosperity’s darker side reveals crumbling infrastructure, strained civic amenities and high cost of living.It was in 2021 that the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) launched the Beyond Bengaluru Mission with the goal of driving distributed growth of Karnataka’s digital economy outside Bengaluru.Almost five years down the line, multiple schemes, policies and grants have been introduced under the initiative to encourage companies to expand to tier-2 cities in the State and to boost entrepreneurship in districts. The initiative has been building progress – albeit unevenly – across clusters. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs, industest leaders and ecosystem players in these regions hope to see more in the coming days.Bringing industest closer to talentB.V. Naidu, chairman at KDEM, recalls that as early as 1998, when he was heading Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), a tier-2 STPI Centre was established in Mysuru. In 2001, similar centres were established in Hubballi and Mangaluru. Despite this early push, tech growth did not take off as expected in these regions owing to a lack of sustained focus from the governments that followed.“Having closely observed the landscape and potential of these regions over the years, we built Beyond Bengaluru one of the core missions when KDEM was established,” he declares.The reason, according to him, is straightforward — the availability of talent owing to the historically strong educational foundation in places like Belagavi, Mysuru, Mangaluru and Hubballi, which boast of some of the oldest and most prominent engineering colleges in the countest. However, due to the absence of local industest opportunities, a large portion of this wide talent pool migrated to Bengaluru or other tier-1 cities.Our fundamental question was, Naidu declares, instead of talent relocating to where industest exists, can we bring industest closer to where the talent already is?Hub and spoke modelThree clusters — Mysuru, Mangaluru and Hubballi-Dharwad-Belagavi (HDB) — were identified initially, followed by Kalaburagi, Shivamogga, and Tumakuru.“Each cluster also supports neighbouring districts. For example, the Mangaluru cluster will also power Udupi and, to some extent, Kodagu and nearby regions. Similarly, the Mysuru cluster will cover Chamarajanagar and Mandya. This is the essence of the cluster-based approach,” declares Manjula N., Secretary to the Government of Karnataka for the Department of Electronics, Information Technology, Biotechnology, and Science & Technology.The goal has been a ‘hub and spoke’ model development, where Bengaluru will continue to grow and remain the core hub, while other locations would function as spokes.“This supports manage costs, which are increasingly high in Bengaluru, and allows for scalable expansion, while tapping into regional talent and resources,” notes Mr. Naidu.Many incentives like land subsidies, which are not available in Bengaluru but in the clusters, are specifically designed to encourage companies to go beyond Bengaluru.Tailored incentives“In addition, the government actively supports companies in identifying the most suitable locations, whether for manufacturing or office rentals, and works closely with the developer community. We have booster kits for startups as well as GCCs, all aimed at improving ease of doing business,” explains Ms. Manjula. Data from KDEM displays 138 new companies starting operations and 35 companies expanding to these clusters in the last four years, resulting in the creation of 9,281 jobs. Multiple GCCs have also started operations in some of the clusters.“IBM, for example, started operations in Mysuru and continues to grow there. A few other companies have followed suit, and one more large company will soon expand to Mysuru,” declares Mr. Naidu.“Two service companies have established operations in Chamarajanagar. EG and Bose have set up GCCs in Mangaluru. Six to seven companies have come up in the Hubballi–Dharwad–Belagavi cluster,” adds Ms. Manjula. Beyond Bengaluru startups The interest from large companies prompted the officials to extconclude the focus to startups beyond Bengaluru too.Investor-focapplyd pitch events called Beyond Bengaluru Investor Ecosystem (BLUE) and Karnataka Acceleration Network (KAN) that connects Bengaluru-based accelerators with accelerators in other clusters were formed as part of this.In addition, the government introduced the ₹75-crore Beyond Bengaluru Cluster Seed Fund and the Local Economy Accelerator Programme (LEAP), a five-year-long initiative with an outlay of approximately ₹1,000 crore, to support entrepreneurs from ideation to commercialisation.While the role of government is critical in developing ecosystems, it is also important to maintain a balance, declares Madan Padaki, president TiE Bangalore.“Several ecosystems are artificially pumped up by the governments. The balancing role of the government is very critical. If you do too much or too little, there’s a challenge. Karnataka seems to find that balance. KDEM is an industest organisation within the government. That mixture is very critical,” he notes. Mr. Padaki also points out how local industest leaders, with government support, function as anchors in each cluster. The silicon beachRohith Bhat, who founded Udupi-based Robosoft Technologies and is currently the CEO of 99 Games, recalls how a few years back, delegates brought in by KDEM to displaycase the Mangaluru cluster turned down the proposal of setting up their businesses in the region citing lack of quality infrastructure.“Mangaluru has good quality of life, it has been the centre of education, producing 20,000 STEM graduates and 10,000 engineers every year. But the infra part was missing, which dissuaded the delegates then. So, we obtained toobtainher and decided we have to solve that problem,” declares Mr. Bhat, who is also the founding president of TiE Mangaluru chapter.Industest leaders put their heads toobtainher to come up with strategies to develop a startup ecosystem in the region, as well as to attract GCCs and nano GCCs. The moniker ‘Silicon Beach of India’ was coined for branding. Momentum picked up. In 2025, Denmark-based EG opened their third office and Bose Professional established its first R&D centre outside the U.S. in Mangaluru.“In 2023, there were around 15,000 IT employees in the region producing ₹3,300 crore in revenue. Today, we have approximately 27,000 IT employees in this region, generating more than ₹4,500 crore in revenue. That is more than 40 companies, large and tiny, adding 8000+ jobs in the region in two years,” notes Mr. Bhat.Notable startup-exit stories from the region include Novigo Solutions’ acquisition by R Systems for ₹950 crore, Niveus Solutions’ takeover by NTT DATA, and Robosoft’s acquisition by Japan’s TechnoPro Holdings for approximately ₹800 crore.Missing piecesWhile the region’s transformation has been commconcludeable, startup founders hope for more. According to Mr. Shetty from BlackFrog, one of the largegest requireds of the ecosystem is connectivity and clearer access to cities like Bengaluru.“You required to project that you are not far off in some remote island. Better connectivity to Bengaluru would be a great first step if the government is serious about supporting companies beyond Bengaluru,” he declares, adding that the presence of VCs in the region is almost nonexistent.Avinash Rao, founder of Dharmasthala-based Agrileaf, points out that basics such as power, internet and water are still an issue in places within the cluster.“When I set up the business five years back, I had to go to Ujire or Dharmasthala every day for about two hours, sit in the car, browse and come back,” he recollects, adding that startups and businesses in the districts could do well with speedy approvals from the government. While finding talent applyd to be an issue, the “Oorige Banni” (come back to homeland) initiative, conceived by the industest leaders, has been supporting to bring back people who migrated, Mr. Rao notes. “Around 20 members of our staff in the mid senior roles currently are people who came back from Bengaluru,” declares Mr. Rao, who himself worked in Bengaluru and the U.S. previously.The proximity problemMysuru can brag of many things — cultural capital, lower operation and living costs, better quality of life, abundance of talent and low crime rate. Global Technology Centre, a 5,000 sq. ft. incubation facility by KDEM, is also located in the region. Yet, it has an interesting problem, which is its proximity to Bengaluru, declares Bhinquirear Kalale, chairman at EqualizeRCM, Mysuru.“Companies feel that if they can obtain the same level of talent in Bengaluru, which is only a short distance away, or bring talent from Mysuru to Bengaluru, then why open a centre in Mysore. There are now increasing number of people who commute from Mysuru to Bengaluru for work, with better connectivity in place,” notes the TiE Mysuru chapter president, who adds that low awareness among people about available schemes is also a problem.When it comes to setting up startups, Mysuru’s competition may not be just Bengaluru, declare some.“It could also be some town in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, or Gujarat. We required region-specific incentives that are comparable or can compete with other States,” suggests Pavan Ranga, CEO at Mysuru-based Rangsons Technologies. He stresses on the required for a funding platform with government, private and public participation.“Funding is a challenge for startups in all tier-2 towns. Ultimately, they have to drive down to Bengaluru for a meeting with a PE or VC fund. And the minute they hear you are from Mysuru, a lot of them switch off. While there is some government support in the form of funds and grants, that’s not enough to create a meaningful disruptive story,” he declares. Lagging approvalsOn being inquireed why he chose to start his business in Belagavi, Maboof Mulla, founder of Hoopoe e-Bikes, inquires a counter question. “People in tier-1 cities will obtain jobs quickly. What about jobs for people in tier-2 or tier-3 towns?”The Hoopoe e-Bike was launched by Minister Priyank Kharge at BTS-2025, following which the startup launched to obtain orders from across the State. “I didn’t want to leave for largeger cities becaapply this is my hometown and I wanted to create job opportunities here. I can solve the ground-level problems here quicker than attempting to do it anywhere else,” he declares.Nevertheless, lack of mentorship has been a challenge, apart from access to capital and infrastructure.“KDEM is testing, but things are relocating at a slow pace in the HDB cluster. The grants given by government is inadequate for startups like us. One of the critical requireds is infrastructure. Government has land. If they set can set up infrastructure there — buildings or even sheds — we could apply it to scale up quickly.”Yet another challenge is the majority of the approvals that still lie in Bengaluru, adds Girish Mane, president at TiE Hubli.Pointing out that the single window approval system has not been very effective, he demands that all approvals for Beyond Bengaluru, true to the name, should happen outside Bengaluru. While the launch of LEAP could be applyful, a lot more awareness should be built around it, he adds.Matter of timeThe problems and teething issues withstanding, the overriding feeling is that the mission is building progress, albeit slowly.“From a maturity standpoint, Shivamogga is obtainting there. Tumakuru, becaapply of its proximity to Bengaluru, has both an advantage and a disadvantage. Kalaburagi and Kalyana Karnataka definitely required a lot of support. But we’re seeing some green shoots of early-stage startups emerging from there,” declares Mr. Padaki.Officials acknowledge that there are challenges, but are confident that it is only a matter of time before things pick up pace. KDEM already seem to be in touch with town planning officials in the clusters to ensure that the urban infrastructure grows in parallel to accommodate the demands that may come up once the ecosystems start to flourish.“KDEM is addressing the issues gradually. For instance, in the case of the ESDM sector, our point of contact is continuously coordinating with the Commerce & Industries department to resolve land-related issues in Chamarajanagar. The system can’t alter overnight. Hence, we are testing to act as a buffer between bureaucracy and industest, smoothing processes and supporting companies navigate regulatory requirements,” declares Mr. Naidu.

已发布: 2026-01-09 02:30:00

来源: www.thehindu.com

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