The
Silicon Valley of India is a
nicknameA nickname is a descriptive name given in place of or in addition to the official name of a person, place or thing. It can also be the familiar or truncated form of the proper name, which may sometimes be used simply for convenience A nickname (also spelled "nick name") is a descriptive name...
of the
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
n city of
BangaloreBangalore , also known as Bengaḷūru , is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and fifth-most populous urban agglomeration.Though historical references to the city predate 900...
. The name signifies Bangalore's status as a hub for
information technologyInformation technology , as defined by the Information Technology Association of America , is "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware." IT deals with the use of electronic...
(IT) companies in India and is a comparative reference to the original
Silicon ValleySilicon Valley is the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California, United States. The term originally referred to the region's large number of silicon chip innovators and manufacturers, but eventually came to refer to all the high-tech businesses in the area; it is now...
, based around
Santa Clara ValleyThe Santa Clara Valley is a valley just south of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California in the United States. Much of Santa Clara County and its county seat, San Jose, are in the Santa Clara Valley. The valley was originally known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight for the miles and miles of...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
, a major hub for IT companies in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. One of earliest mentions of this
sobriquetA sobriquet is a nickname or a fancy name, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. It is usually a familiar name, distinct from a pseudonym assumed as a disguise, but a nickname which is familiar enough such that it can be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation...
occurred in late 1980s in the
Indian Express. The more prevalent application of the nickname Bangalore began in the 1990s based on a concentration of firms specialising in
Research and DevelopmentThe phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...
(R&D),
electronicsElectronics is a branch of science and technology that deals with the controlled flow of electrons. The ability to control electron flow is usually applied to information handling or device control. Electronics is distinct from electrical science and technology, which deals with the generation,...
and software production.
History
The
Electronics CityElectronics City is an electronics industrial park spread over 332 acres in Konappana Agrahara and Doddathogur villages, just outside Bangalore, India. It houses more than a hundred industries, including IT industry leaders such as Wipro, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Infosys, CGI, Siemens, ITI,...
was the brainchild of
R. K. BaligaRam Krishna Baliga is regarded as the father of the Electronics City in Bangalore, India.According to the Indian Express, in the early 1970s Mr Baliga envisoned making Bangalore the "Silicon Valley of India" and it was met with skepticism. However, the then Chief Minister D...
. He was the first Chairman and Managing Director of Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation (in the 1976 the government agency was created to expanding the electronics industry in the state of
KarnatakaKarnataka is a state in the southern part of India. It was created on November 1, 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act...
). Baliga proposed the concept of developing the electronic city in the 1970s. The agency purchased of land 18 km south of Bangalore for its Electronics City project, which was meant to establish an
industrial parkAn industrial park is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. In Hong Kong, industrial parks are usually known as industrial estates. In the UK small industrial park containing multiple units all of the same style are known as trading estates...
in Bangalore. Notwithstanding 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. As part of its promotion of this concept, KEONICS distributed reprints of an article entitled
"Can Bangalore become India's Silicon Valley" that first appeared in "
Plus: The Total Computer Magazine".
The article made references to studies of Bangalore published by
United States Agency for International DevelopmentThe United States Agency for International Development is the United States federal government organization responsible for most non-military foreign aid...
(USAID) that favourably evaluated Bangalore's capacity to grow into a high technology hub, similar to the Silicon Valley. The publication also published interviews with IT industry professionals on the state of the IT industry in Bangalore and their perceptions of what lay ahead in the future. Selected quotes from the interviews included:
If the CentreThe Government of India, also known as the Union Government or the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of a union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
looks at Bangalore to be made into Silicon Valley, it would certainly become the Silicon Valley; If you are talking of a Silicon Valley kind of atmosphere, then Bangalore already has it, but if you are talking of a product a day, then we are far from it; Bangalore is certainly emerging as a software and R&D subcontracting centre for multinationals; It is not an unreasonable comparison to make between Bangalore city and Silicon Valley; Bangalore has the ingredients to become Silicon Valley... It is probably the only city in India that could become one.
The turn of the millennium witnessed the growth of
InternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standardized Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
based technologies which resulted in the dotcom boom. Bangalore's IT industry grew during this period with the establishment of local and foreign IT companies. In 2001,
BusinessWeekBusinessWeek is a business magazine published by McGraw-Hill. It was first published in 1929 under the direction of Malcolm Muir, who was serving as president of the McGraw-Hill Publishing company at the time. BusinessWeek is a business magazine published by McGraw-Hill. It was first published...
published an article entitled "India's Silicon Valley" which traced the growth of the IT industry in India and particularly in Bangalore. The use of the term "Silicon Valley of India" to refer to Bangalore grew in local media and as time progressed, in international media too. An article entitled "Is the Next Silicon Valley Taking Root in Bangalore?" appeared in the
New York Times in 2006 Indeed, some articles in the western media wondered if the original Silicon Valley would one day be functionally replaced by Bangalore
Criticism
Bangalore is located on a
plateauIn geology and earth science, a plateau, also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain...
and not in a
valleyIn geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys...
; thus the use of the term in reference to Bangalore is not truly toponymous.
Shashi TharoorShashi Tharoor is the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and a member of the Indian Parliament from the Trivandrum constituency in Kerala. He served as the UN Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information between June 2002 and February 2007, during the term of...
suggests the term
Silicon Plateau since Bangalore is on the
Deccan PlateauThe Deccan Plateau, also known as the Peninsular Plateau or the Great Peninsular Plateau, is a large plateau in India, making up the majority of the southern part of the country, ranging in elevation from 100 metres in the north to 1000 metres in the south. It is located between three mountain...
.
See also
- Silicon Gulf
Silicon Gulf is a nickname for Davao City and extends to the Davao Region, at Southern Mindanao, Philippines. The nickname refers to the growing number of Information Technology and IT Enabled Services companies sprouting in the area...
, the "Silicon Valley of the PhilippinesThe Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
"
- Zhongguancun
Zhongguancun , or Zhong Guan Cun, is a technology hub in Haidian District, Beijing.It is geographically situated in the northwestern part of Beijing city, in a band between the northwestern 3rd Ring Road and the northwestern 4th Ring Road....
, the "Silicon Valley of ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
"