Bangalore Photo

Apartment Boom
Thousands of new apartments are under construction on the outskirts of Bangalore to accomodate the city's growing population.
House prices have soared, pricing many people not in the IT sector out of the market.
Poor farmers who were able to sell land for development have become rich.
The boom has brought in construction workers from neighbouring states, but many sleep in tents by the roadside, adjacent to the luxury apartments they are building.
Urban Congestion
Bangalore's over-burdened roads sag under the weight of 5 million vehicles, including cars, trucks, motorcycles and 3-wheeled taxis, as well as more traditional forms of rural transport.
The average traffic speed in the city has dropped from 20 mph to 8 mph in the decade despite the introduction of a one-way system.
Companies are forced to hire fleets of taxis and buses to ferry their workers to and from home, due to the inadequate public transport system.
Road to Nowhere
The public authorities have failed to compete the new road link between the city centre and the hi-tech campuses in Electronic City.
Despite years of lobbying and financial contributions from companies, the Bangalore Expressway is years behind schedule.
The low-tech construction methods, although they create many jobs, may not be the most efficient way to build a motorway.
Now the project is being turned over to tne private sector for management.
Rich and poor
Even the Infosys campus cannot completely escape from the social divisions in the city.
Just behind the company's glittering new Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) centre, construction workers have erected tents by the side of the road.
While everyone has prospered in the hi-tech boom, the gap between rich and poor has probably widened.
The existence of such a tent city is testimony to the social divide that still exists in the city. Market Traders
Bangalore still has a large traditional market where fruit and vegetables are sold, and peddlars with carts come to fill up their wares.
The market has been located here for centuries and is still run on traditional lines.
But it is under threat from the hi-tech companies, who are urging the government to demolish it in order to widen the road to Electronic City's hi-tech park.

Cafe Society
One of the features of Bangalore life is the spread of the cafe society.
Local chains as well as international ones compete for business among the well-heeled IT professionals.
The high incomes of IT workers have meant they are spending more money on leisure and entertainment, and introduced the weekend to Indian working life.
As a coffee-producing region, coffee drinking is popular among all social groups in the city

Shopping Malls
New shopping malls are springing up everywhere in Bangalore, fuelled by the city’s affluent lifestyle.
Many middle class Indians are attracted by Western-style fashions and products.
The malls are popular with women and teenagers who have few public spaces where they can gather.
Many small shopkeepers feel that the malls are hurting their business, while traditionalists fear they are undermining Indian values.

Free bikes
The campus is so large that Infosys provides free bicycles for its staff to travel around the site.
The young affluent IT professionals employed by Infosys and other firms have transformed Bangalore.
The company hires 30,000 workers a year – but it receives 1.4 million applications, and has the pick of the best and brightest college graduates from across India.
And that talent pool is the key to India’s global competitiveness in the fast-growing IT services sector.

Infosys Campus
The most spectacular commercial development is the 43 acre Infosys Campus at Electronic City.
It is a self-contained city for its 20,000 workers, and contains shops, restaurants, a health club, a basketball court and even a golf course.
Golf carts take the many visitors around on tours, while video conference facilities link it to Infosys offices around the world.
Infosys is one of the Bangalore tigers, a fast-growing Indian outsourcing company that is overtaking its rivals.