Foreign firms keep up rush

Over 114 new IT firms have spent Rs 1,800 crore to set up base in Bangalore in the first nine months of the year. If this growth rate holds, the city may well have over 200 new firms in the sector by the close of the year.

A senior official of the Karnataka government showcasing the state and Bangalore to the visiting Israeli delegation said that last year about 168 firms had come in, of which 110 were foreign equity companies.

As a result Karnataka's contribution to the country's IT exports will grow exponentially. Last year, Karnataka contributed $4 billion to the country's $11 billion IT exports and led other states by over a 50 per cent margin, he said.

Besides IT, the state is pulling ahead in the BPO and biotech space, he said. Though a late BPO starter, Bangalore now has 140 BPO-focussed firms, with nine added in the last two months. He saw the strides in IT being replicated in BT.

This fiscal, he expects investments in BT to exceed Rs 510 crore, over a two-fold jump from Rs 240 crore registered last year.

Currently, the 118 BT companies, representing over 50 per cent of BT firms in the country have already invested Rs 200 crore, this fiscal.