23.1.14

Of Top IT Hubs....


Bangalore remains by far the most attractive IT/ITeS outsourcing location in the world, and six Indian cities are part of the top 10 most attractive outsourcing locations, says the latest annual ranking by consulting firm Tholons. The other cities are Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune.
But the 2014 edition of this survey, which ranks the top 100 locations, also points to some interesting trends – several Indian tier-2 cities, as also cities in the Philippines, Poland, and South America, have significantly improved their attractiveness over the past year.
Chandigarh (at No 23), Kolkata (25), Jaipur (38) and Ahmedabad (63) have all improved their rankings. Ahmedabad rose the most, by six ranks, compared to last year’s ranking, suggesting that Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s economic initiatives are paying off even for the IT/ITeS industry. It is seen to be particularly good in finance & accounting BPO and in certain aspects of IT. However, Coimbatore (31), Bhubaneswar (55) and Thiruvananthapuram (68) slipped a little.
Manila, capital of the Philippines, has risen to the No. 2 spot, dislodging Mumbai, which is down to No. 3. Other cities in the Philippines, including Davao City, Santa Rosa (Laguna) and Bacolod City, all rose up the ranks, while Cebu City maintained its No. 8 position.
The Philippines’ close cultural ties with the US has helped, but it has less than a tenth of India’s population, so those established centres there are looking at building strengths of 1,500-2,000 people over three years. That’s unlike in India where companies are able to scale quickly to many thousands of employees.
Industry analysts say India has no reason to have any immediate worries about the Philippines.
Tholons ranks cities based on six parameters – scale & quality of talent; cost; business catalyst (economic profile of city); infrastructure; risks (political and social risk, risk of natural disasters etc); and quality of life.
As many as 39 of the top 100 locations in the latest survey are from Asia Pacific. But other continents too are seeing more action now.

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