The Karntaka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) supported setting up 40 new Global Ccapacity Centres (GCC) in Bengaluru and 10 in Beyond Bengaluru clusters in the financial year 2024-25, as per KDEM’s annual report released on Tuesday.
The State currently hosts more than 880 GCCs, up from around 500 GCCs in 2021.
Samir Venugopal, VP at KDEM, highlighted that GCC talent in the State has gone up from around 3.5 lakh in FY 2021 to 6.5 lakh in FY 2026. He also noted that Bengaluru has recorded the highest absorption of office space for three consecutive quarters.
Startups surge
According to the report, the year also saw the number of DPIIT-registered startups in the State rising to 16700. With the Beyond Bengaluru push, more than 3300 startups were registered in cities outside Bengaluru.
According to the officials, four corporate proposals have been approved to train people under the Nipuna Scheme, and the programme will go live soon. Around 10,000 beneficiaries expected.
Beyond Bengaluru
Sanjeev Gupta, CEO at KDEM, noted that the Beyond Bengaluru clusters have seen 15 GCCs in the last three years. According to him, 11,10,000 sqft of IT park infrastructure is now available in these clusters.
In the coming year, under the initiative, KDEM aims to onboard 30 new companies, with 10 in each of the clusters, including Mysuru, Mangaluru and the Hubballi-Belagavi-Dharwad cluster. KDEM data suggests that 126 new companies have been set up across the clusters and more than 5,500 jobs have been generated so far under the Beyond Bengaluru programme.
For the coming year, the initiative aims to anchor 10 plus next-gen GCCs that focus on AI, cybersecurity, semiconductor, climate tech, and healthtech, and to form three clusters of NRI forums outside India to network and invite investment opportunities to the clusters.
Reset needed
While the State continues to lead on many fronts, Bhaskar Verma, regional director at Nasscom, remarked that it is time for a reset. “While we can keep on talking about Karnataka numbers, the neighbouring State is taking a little lead,” he said, citing a recent Nasscom report. “While we still have huge numbers, we have to see what needs to be done differently,” he said.
The event also saw an MoU being launched between STPI and KDEM. Arvind Kumar, Director General of STPI, said that consumer internet was a low-hanging fruit when the ecosystem was being created, and startups are now more serious about creating sustainable systems. “I have been seeing scientists from institutions like ISRO and DRDO leaving to join startups, and to serve the country,” he said.
Rahul Sharanappa, MD, KITS, hoped for a 5x improvement in the achievements that KDEM has gained so far, in the coming years.
source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)