Bangalore

Bangalore (Kannada: ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು) (pronounced /'{{IPA|bɛŋgəɫurʊ}}/ in Kannada and /'{{IPA|bæŋgəlʊɹ}}/ in English) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is India's third largest city and India's fifth largest metropolitan area, with a 2001 population of about 6.5 million {{inote|indias largest city|http://www.world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=1124669604&men=gcis&lng=en&gln=xx&dat=32&srt=pnan&col=aohdq&pt=c&va=&geo=-104}} {{inote|india's largest MA|http://www.world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=1124669609&men=gcis&lng=en&gln=xx&dat=32&geo=-104&srt=pnan&col=aohdq&va=&pt=a}}

Economy

One of the important factors spurring Bangalore's growth was that the Central Government invested heavily in public sector industries in Bangalore, partially due to the fact that it is geographically disconnected from India's rivals Pakistan and China. This led to the concentration of technical and scientific manpower in Bangalore, and is a factor in leading the "IT revolution" in Bangalore.

Related Topics:
Pakistan - China

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Newsweek proclaimed Bangalore to be one of the 12 "Capitals of Style", along with Paris, London and Los Angeles.

Related Topics:
Newsweek - Paris - London - Los Angeles

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Manufacturing industries

Long before Bangalore was called the Silicon Valley of India, the city made its name as headquarters to some of the largest national heavy industries of India. The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) headquarters was based in Bangalore, and was for the most part dedicated to R&D activities for indigenous fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force. Today, HAL develops and maintains an impressive fleet of fighter aircraft and trainers for the Indian Airforce including Sukhoi 30 Flankers and Jaguars.

Related Topics:
Silicon Valley - Hindustan Aeronautics Limited - Indian Air Force - Sukhoi 30 Flankers - Jaguars

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Airshows showcasing inventories from HAL and international corporations such as Sukhoi, Lockheed Martin, Mirage, and BAE Systems are held at the Yelahanka Airforce base near Bangalore once every two years.

Related Topics:
Sukhoi - Lockheed Martin - Mirage - BAE Systems

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The National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) is also headquartered in Bangalore and is dedicated to the development of aerospace technologies. NAL has a staff strength of over 1,300 employees and often works in conjunction with HAL.

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Space technology

In June 1972, the Government of India set up the Space Commission and Department of Space (DOS). India's premier space research organization, the ISRO was created under the DOS and headquartered in Bangalore. The main objective of ISRO includes development of satellites and launch vehicles. Aryabhatta, India's first satellite, was developed and successfully launched by ISRO. Since then, the organization has successfully launched numerous other satellites such as Bhaskara, Rohini, APPLE, and the INSAT series, and successfully deployed PSLVs and GSLVs. ISRO also heads India's ambitious moon program.

Related Topics:
1972 - ISRO - Satellite - Aryabhatta - Bhaskara - Rohini - INSAT - PSLV - GSLV - Moon

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Bangalore is also a major manufacturing base and houses such public sector manufacturing giants as Bharat Heavy Electronics Limited (BHEL), BEL, Indian Telephone Industries(ITI) and Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML).

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"Silicon Valley"

Bangalore is called the "Silicon Valley of India" due to the large number of information technology companies located there. Many multinational corporations, especially computer hardware and software giants, have operations in Bangalore. Electronics City, located in the southern outskirts of Bangalore, is an industrial park spread over 330 acres (1.3 km²). Whitefield, located in the northeastern outskirts of the city is another technology hot spot. The government has plans to develop a Information technology corridor linking Whitefield and Electronics City. Over 200 Information Technology corporations have facilities in Bangalore. At the peak of the dot-com boom in the late 1990s, Koramangala - a suburb of Bangalore, was believed to have had the highest density of telecom software companies per square mile in the world. Infosys and Wipro, India's 2nd and 3rd largest software companies, are headquartered here and are now billion-dollar companies, expecting to reach 2 billion in 2005.

Related Topics:
Silicon Valley - Electronics City - Acre - Whitefield - Koramangala

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In August of 2005, however, the Bangalore Forum for IT (BFIT), which consists of 18 major multinational IT firms including Texas Instruments, Philips, Novell, vMoksha, Synopsis, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola, threatened to boycott the Bangalore IT in convention. The proposed boycott was designed to send a loud signal to the city government that the infrastructure is in shambles and that it is becoming increasingly difficult for international standards to be maintained with the poor roads and traffic managment problems. Increasingly new IT centers are being built away from this city based upon long commute times, poor infrastructure, high land and labor costs, increasing environmental problems, and due to labor retention issues. Still, many young IT'ers see Bangalore as the Mecca of the Indian IT world, and are happy to endure bunking in cramped quarters and enduring long, smog-filled commutes, as the city is considered the stepping stone to plum positions abroad.

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Biotechnology

Biotechnology is a growing field in the city. Bangalore accounts for at least 97 of the approximately 240 biotechnology companies in India. Interest in Bangalore as a base for biotechnology companies stems from Karnataka's comprehensive biotechnology policy, described by the Karnataka Vision Group on Biotechnology http://www.bangaloreit.com/html/helpdesk/docs/visiongroup.doc. In 2003-2004, Karnataka attracted the maximum venture capital funding for biotechnology in the country - $8 million. Biocon, headquartered in Bangalore, is the nation's leading biotechnology company and ranks 16th in the world in revenues.

Related Topics:
Biotechnology - Karnataka's - Venture capital - Biocon

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Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology (IBAB) which is initiated by Biotechnology vision group, ICICI, Biocon which is located in ITPL is trying to shape revolutionary scientists in the field.

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Like the software industry which initially drew most of its talent from the local public sector engineering industries,the biotechnology industry had access to talent from the National Center of Biological Sciences(NCBS)and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).

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