Its close proximity to Mumbai and rapidly improving infrastructure has made Pune one of the most sought-after commercial destinations in the country today. This is attracting a large number of IT-enabled service companies, which in turn is good business for solution providers.

The expressway connecting Mumbai and Pune has reduced the traveling distance and time substantially between the metro and the city. This, along with a pleasant climate and improved infrastructure, are attracting huge investment from giants in the field of ITES business.

Pune has also attracted huge IT investment through software giants like Wipro, Infosys, Satyam, Tata Technologies, TCS, Kanbay, Veritas, Cognizant, PCS and Mahindra British Telecom.

The presence of several educational institutions and universities makes this an ideal place for systems intergrators and solutions providers to pitch for their business.

According to some statistics from IDC, Pune has emerged as the finest IT hub that competes with the likes in Bangalore and Mumbai. The report also says that Pune has the highest PC penetration among households and has overtaken much-fancied Bangalore, in this regard.

ITES BECKONS HITHER
Lately, Pune has become an attraction for a large number of organizations providing IT-enabled services. Companies like Convergys, vCustomer, WNS Global Services, EXL Service, HSBC, Zensar Technologies, Aviva, mSourcE, Wipro-Spectramind, Progeon of Infosys and Tela (Adaptis), all have set up big centers with some having up to 4,000 seats.

This also has become a good business opportunity for partners and systems integrators of this region.

With Pune becoming one of the most favourite BPO hubs of the country after Mumbai, Gurgaon and Bangalore, the city is expected to generate around 15,000 jobs in the BPO segment by the year-end, according to market estimates. Practically, every BPO outfit in the city is keen on doubling operations in the coming year.

Apart from ITES, regular customer segments like the corporate, SME and the SOHO are giving brisk business for the SIs. Customers like engineering colleges in and around Pune, the finance sector, defense sector, export oriented units, and manufacturing units are also upgrading its IT infrastructures. However, the much-hyped eGovernance program, which actually should have given IT solution providers big business, has not really taken off in a big way.

NELSON JOHNY in Pune

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