DNA

This should be a rebuff of sorts to sceptics who have been insisting that IT companies are increasingly flocking to other states given the civic mess that Bangalore finds itself in. IT major Dell on Tuesday announced the inauguration of a new state-of-the-art Firmware Lab at its R&D centre in the city. The lab, which will be responsible for developing Dell’s embedded systems management products that form a part of its PowerEdge enterprise servers, is being described by the company as an...

This one goes a step beyond the GIMs that the state has hosted in the last few years. The effort in question is that of Karnataka's apex industry body spreading its wings across the seven seas. The NRI Chapter of the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), that was launched on Tuesday by Union minister for external affairs Salman Khurshid, is the first step in this direction. The gathering of industry leaders in the city turned out to be essentially a bouquet of...

You can describe it as an achievement against all odds. In spite of all the civic problems, from potholes to water scarcity, the city ranks the #1 business travel destination in the country. In fact, Bangalore ranks #12 worldwide. Bangalore emerged as the most visited city in India for business travel among the 25 most-visited cities worldwide followed by Mumbai at 20 in terms of number of overnight hotel stays, according to the latest release of Concur Expense IQ Report. Concur is a leading...

The last time, they had come in droves. This time, they brought their herds too. Over 1,000 people from 80 villages in Chitradurga district on Thursday flocked to Chitradurga town in protest against the massive diversion of around 10,000 acres of Amrithmahal Kavals land in Challakere taluk of the district for a variety of industrial, defence, institutional and infrastructure projects. The communities, whose livelihood primarily depend on livestock that they graze on these grasslands, herded...

When the Lake Development Authority (LDA) virtually handed over the Kelaginakere Byrasandra Lake on a platter to Bagmane Developers under the former's "Adopt a lake" scheme, the city would have thought that the lake had a hope. But eight years after the agreement was signed, allegations of encroachment and land-grabbing are flying thick and fast — not only against the developer, arguably one of the city's most well-known and powerful, but also a host of corporates and a public sector undertaking...

Infrastructure projects in Bangalore have opened up the land and helped alleviate mobility constraints for economic inputs. Many commercial and residential projects have been launched; and this has not only affected emerging micro-markets but also influenced property sector returns in mature and established local areas. A research project conducted by the London-based Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has found that the most noticeable effect of the infrastructure investment is to...

Those who have conservation close to their hearts can always rock. And so will Hard Rock Café (HRC) on Wednesday. Having supported conservation organisation Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) in the past through contributions to the anti-snare campaign in Bandipur Tiger Reserve and Rajiv Gandhi National Park in the state, HRC will be aiding the NCR-based NGO, this time rendering support to its project on control of the wildlife trade in Karnataka. Kick-starting this tie-up is a five-city India tour...

It's a paradox of sorts. The retail real estate market in Bangalore is apparently stable; the size of the market may have grown over last year, but vacancy rates have not dipped enough to make an impact. Unoccupied space is growing proportionately. According to real estate consultancy firm Cushman & Wakefield, 11.68 cent of the floorspace in malls of Bangalore still lies vacant (as of March 31, 2013). Things have improved only by a wafer-thin margin since December 31, 2012 when the vacancy rate...

There’s something grossly wrong with the environment of Bangalore. Most people believe things have deteriorated in the last five years. But hold on, the majority believes that it is the government which should work towards improving the state of the environment. According to the Teri Environmental Survey 2013, which looked at the state of environment in six major Indian cities including Bangalore, 55 per cent of the people believe that it should be the government which should be working towards...

Bangalore has recorded the highest number of residential unit launches in the first quarter of this calendar year. In fact, close to a third of the overall housing project launches among the top eight cities has happened in Bangalore. According to real estate consultants Cushman and Wakefield, close to 40 per cent of the total new unit launches in the city were in Southeast Bangalore, targeting individuals working primarily in the IT/ITeS sector. Infrastructure initiatives have resulted in...