Mysore, March 31, 2013:
Mysore is said to be best alternative to Bangalore for Industrial sector and a sound engineering manufacturing base for growth. But in recent years the city of palaces has not taken off in Information technology sector .
Despite the city moved on rapid strides in the first half of the last decade, mainly due to low base rate, it seems to be little action on the IT front during the last few years.
Mysore District Industrial Association(MDIA) sources said that export was less than Rs.100 crore in the previous year. The figures crossed the Rs.1,000 crore barriers by 2008-09 but since then the growth has stagnated and the industry has not been seen growth as expected. But for Infosys, Excel Soft and a few other players, the IT sector in Mysore has remained muted.
Mr. Suresh Kumar Jain, General secretary of the MDIA said that the connectivity was a key ingredient and the railway track doubling work with electrification of the Mysore-Bangalore stretch slated to be ready by December 2014 would enhance mobility and fuel growth though Mysore airport which resumed of commercial services weekly three times and expected to daily services shortly . The State Government had unveiled a blueprint to promote the Mysore-Nanjangud corridor as an electronic hardware manufacturing hub in 2011. But nothing has been heard since then.
Textiles, agro-based industries including horticulture and floriculture, and food industries are other areas with potential for development but have not been harnessed to the full. With real estate becoming a scarce and expensive commodity, the future would hinge on “out of the box” ideas for the Government to conjure up and draw investors.
The stakeholders themselves have suggested to lease the existing land for a period of 30 years instead of outright sale at an exorbitant cost to the potential entrepreneurs. Money saved on buying land could be invested on the project. This will not only curtail speculative deals in real estate but will release land for genuine investors. But whether this will happen is anybody’s guess.
Traditionally, Mysore, known for its tourism aspect, has given impetus to promotion and notwithstanding the slowdown in the economy in 2008-09 the city registered a robust growth in the number of tourists fuelled by domestic travelers. From about 1.5 million tourists visiting Mysore annually between 2000-2005, the number has grown to cross the three-million mark now.
There are plans afoot to increase the number to five million by 2020 which would call for additional investments by the private players. The hospitality industry is already witnessing a capacity expansion with the entry of new players including Raddison, ITC, and Park while others like Sheraton are waiting to move in.
Investments are also envisaged in the fields of education and health which augurs well for the city’s future as industrial growth and development of the service sector hinges to a certain extent on them.
According to Mr Sudhakara shetty, President Mysore Chamber of commerce at the regional investors’ conference last year , MoUs with a projected investment of Rs.1174.4 crore were signed in the education sector which was expected to expand in the years ahead. The entry of new educational institutions coupled with improvement in the healthcare sector will hold the key to the city’s growth, according to stakeholders. Till 10 years ago, the city had only two engineering colleges – the National Institute of Engineering and Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering. But now there are eight colleges with at least two more in the offing and this will add to the region’s talent pool.
As Sanjay Ahuja of Software Guru explained, Mysore benefited from its proximity to Bangalore and there was the spill-over effect when the capital city was saturated. The uncontrolled rise in real estate prices in Bangalore made sense for industry to search for alternatives to reduce over-head costs and Mysore emerged as a top runner given its proximity to Bangalore, easy availability of land and promises of growth. But the real estate value in Mysore city has almost doubled since last three years has eroded the advantage while the limited availability of talented manpower to attract core industries has impeded the projected growth.
Without a sound base in education and health, it would be difficult to attract skilled workers to the city and Mysore – which had head-start decades ago – was now playing catch-up with other identified Tier-2 cities and the government has been trying to push investors to this parts./ENN
