Here's how serious Bhubaneswar is about catching up with Bengaluru

Odisha's Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced a new policy with a slew of incentives for start-ups, reports Tech in Asia

Odisha has set its eyes on attracting start-ups, entrepreneurs, and investments to its capital city of Bhubaneswar.

Its pitch comes at a time when Bengaluru's growing infrastructure woes are testing the patience of the tech industry.

Bengaluru has one of the lowest road densities for any large city — less than half of Delhi’s, points out Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys, in a blog post.

Piles of garbage have led to annual outbreaks of dengue and power outages have forced businesses to install polluting diesel-burning electricity generators.

In many ways, Bhubaneswar’s ambition to become one of India’s top three tech hubs, alongside Bengaluru and Delhi, deserves to be taken the most seriously.

Three days ago, Odisha’s Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced a new policy with a slew of incentives for start-ups to be located in Bhubaneswar. 

Also, a sprawling InfoValley is coming up fast in Bhubaneswar, a short distance from the airport. It’s an integrated “walk-to-work” township with both residential and commercial complexes, planned by Jurong Consultants of Singapore. The InfoValley includes a 216-acre electronics manufacturing cluster, already approved by the central government.

India’s top IT companies, Infosys, Wipro, TCS, and Tech Mahindra have set up centres in Bhubaneswar to take advantage of the promised tech infrastructure and business-friendly policies. 

Earlier this year, the Indian government held a “smart cities challenge” to encourage better urban planning and digital infrastructure. Bhubaneswar came out on top of the heap of 97 cities assessed on a number of parameters. The World Bank has also marked Bhubaneswar as being among the three best places to do business in India.

This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here