Anand Mahindra objects to Bengaluru being called 'Silicon Valley of India'

Anand Mahindra, the chairman of Indian business conglomerate Mahindra Group, on Tuesday, said he’s not "thrilled" by Bengaluru being called the ‘Silicon Valley of India’, as it’s too “derivative” and “wannabe”, he wrote in a tweet. 

Mahindra was reacting to the launch of a non-stop flight between Bengaluru and San Francisco, the latter home to the Silicon Valley where many startups and global tech companies have their headquarters. 

A Shuttle between 2 High tech Valleys! Like many, I’m not thrilled by Bengaluru being called’Silicon Valley of India.’ Too derivative & ‘wannabe.’ What do you think would be a good, original title for India’s High-Tech capital? Haven’t had a caption competition for a while( 1/3) https://t.co/922OwWTgm9

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) June 1, 2021

Mahindra also launched a ‘caption competition’, inviting suggestions for an original title for Bengaluru.  

“What do you think would be a good, original title for India’s High-Tech capital? Haven’t had a caption competition for a while,” the tweet read. 

In another tweet, Mahindra promised that the best entry in the competition would be gifted a scale replica of Pininfarina’s — a Mahindra company — H2 Speed. 

“The Pininfarina H2 Speed won the Best Concept Award at the Geneva Motor Show in 2016. I will consider all entries sent in the next 48 hours from the time of this tweet,” Mahindra added but didn’t clarify where entries were to be sent. Several suggestions such as ‘Tech Gully’, ‘Technology Garden’ and ‘Tech-Quila’ came in comments to the tweet.