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Chennai is great for
TCS
S. Ramadorai
In the late 1980s as TCS's growth began to pace
up, we had a choice between investing in either
Chennai or Bangalore. We were bringing India's
first new IBM 3090 Mainframe; it was a big event
for TCS and the country. What worked then in
Chennai's favour was the convenience of a
one-hop flight connection via Mumbai from
overseas, which Bangalore did not have then.
Chennai had excellent educational infrastructure
so our talent pool was at hand, the educational
ecosystem was good, it was a highly
industrialised State, more importantly it was
affordable and offered a good lifestyle
including a vibrant art and culture scene. All
of this together turned our vote for Chennai.
Chennai was the right choice then and it is now.
And statistics say so: it contributes
approximately 30 per cent of TCS' revenue. At
Siruseri, Chennai, TCS is building its largest
Techno Park, a LEED-certified building for 23000
associates: A magnificent architectural
masterpiece, which is Chennai's signature brand.
Model state
Undoubtedly the State of Tamil Nadu leads the
way in terms of development and progress, a
model State to many. It enjoys a higher literacy
rate of 73.5 per cent as compared to the
national average of 65 per cent. It has cornered
over a third of market share in textiles, IT and
ITeS, leather and automotives space. With the
setting up of a number of private colleges,
especially engineering colleges, the State has
emerged as the largest source of technical
manpower in the country – with around 80,000
engineers and 60,000 diploma holders graduating
annually in addition to large number of ITI
students.
Chennai and Tamil Nadu have achieved a lot so
where does it go from here? I hope that Connect
2010 will throw up some new ideas for Chennai's
future. I for one believe the time is right to
stop looking inwards and look instead to the
world, compare Chennai to leading global cities
and destinations and see where we can do better
on the scorecard.
If we wish this city to leap frog to the next
level then we need to:
1. Take a pledge to do things better – look at
global benchmarks and models to adapt from;
2. We need to fix the power situation, we need
to fix the quality of education where it is not
up to the mark, we also need to create those
centres of excellence in IT and textiles and
automotives; we need to attack on all fronts;
3. The Government can take a leadership role by
facilitating this and more importantly removing
all hurdles in the way. I am sure I speak on
behalf of all my industry colleagues that we
will be shoulder to shoulder with the Government
on this.
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Questions to ask
So let's begin by asking ourselves some
questions
Perhaps the civic authorities should ask – What
makes Vienna the best city to live in the world?
What can we learn from its example – in terms of
citizen services, infrastructure of power,
water, health education and general lifestyle?
Perhaps we should understand what makes São
Paulo the 10th richest city in the world with an
economy bigger than Kuwait, how did it
transition from a large industrial city to a
becoming a destination for services and
businesses for the country?
Can the SME sector ask – What makes Austin the
most conducive place for SME's how have they
done it and how can Tamil Nadu learn from that
model and adapt it for Coimbatore?
Alternatively should the Government be looking
at the highly differentiated area of Randstad
Region in the Netherlands which is a hub of
activity and the motor of the economy, where
knowledge industry, innovation, business and
financial services and tourism in the
Netherlands come together? Should they be asking
– can the Chennai Coimbatore corridor be
modelled in a similar fashion?
We from the IT industry – let's ask ourselves,
can we become a Silicon Valley with a
difference, can we put Chennai on the global map
as the city for frugal innovation out of India?
Yet another idea which I find personally very
exciting and doable, is to think about what
makes Chennai unique, highlight that, position
it well and market the city. For instance, the
enormous cultural heritage arts, craft and
music, which is alive and thriving, the zeal and
passion it inspires, how it helps Silicon Valley
deputes connect with their roots. It is a rare
phenomenon for any city.
How can this character be played out to attract
tourists, historians, art lovers? Can the tech
talent and the film industry here, drive the
development of Chennai as an animation hub?
I don't know of any other city in the world that
has such an interesting mix of IT and culture.
With all these suggestions, when all of us work
towards raising the bar in our own areas, we
will discover the need to partner and
collaborate to a much greater extent and create
a vibrant ecosystem that fuels further growth.
(The author is Vice-Chairman, TCS.)
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