1. The rapid rise of INDORE
by Ruchika Sharma
I recently explored a few emerging IT-BPMdestinations across the
country, and realized that there are some commoncharacteristics
across these cities. Ideal demographics,rapidly improving physical,
social and real estate infrastructure, and enhanced scope ofeconomic
activities along with government supportand initiatives are aspects
which have beencritical in determining the growth potential of these
emerging delivery locations.
Each city though has a unique profile and inherent advantages that
could cater to specific needs of the industry and, has thereby, shown
great potential as perfectinvestment destinations for IT. Last year,
NASSCOM and Cushman & Wakefield partnered together for a research
study to evaluate the journey of 10 promising and desirable emerging
business locations for the IT-BPMindustry in India.
While we kicked off this important initiative, we were hopefulof the
immense potential in selectemerging cities. It was our endeavour to
retrace their journey, understand their movementand growth in IT-BPM
service delivery till date and build out a future roadmap for them. One of
the stars that emerged in our location analysis was Indore. Although
the city figured as a challengersix years ago when we did the AT
Kearney locations analysis,it has,over time, significantly improved
its position and has built upon its existing strengths,and added
new competencies.High literacy rates,qualified entry leveltalent,
growth in office infrastructure,excellentconnectivity has ensured
the doubling of IT-BPM headcountin the city in the last six years.
Indore,the commercialcapital of the state of Madhya Pradesh, is rapidly
growing and evolving as a modern city. With two national highways
(NH3 and NH 59), an upgraded domestic airportand connectivity
through railway and road transport, the city of Indore is well connected to
the rest of the country.
In my discussions with differentstakeholders,one thing which came out
strongly in favour of Indore was the massive state government
support. The MP government is very supportive and has been actively
involved in providing necessary infrastructure as well as disseminating
details on various schemes/incentives to the operating companies,

2. incentivizing their business. Some of the government initiatives on
various fronts as enumerated below:
 A well laid out IT Policy that incentivizes IT companies to setup
operations in Indore
 Formulation of a BPM policy has been initiated this year with an
aim to facilitate smoothoperations of existing BPM companies as well
as attracting new ones
 Incentives for skill-gap trainingin terms of monetary
reimbursements forevery employee trained by the company are
offeredby the government
 Nearly all IT parks in the state are government-owned. However, the
MP governmentis open to offers from private playersfor setting
up IT parks/SEZs in the city
 The city scoreshigh on safety and hence, IT-BPMemployees who
work in differentshift timings and need to travel during the night do
not face any issues
 Relaxed employmentgeneration norms forcompanies – at least
100 people to be employed for1 acre of occupied space.
Indore remains one of the most costeffective locations relative to many
other Tier II locations. With a costdifferential of approx. 15-20% as
compared to other cities, Indore provides a conducive business
environment to IT-BPMcompanies.Many leading firms like
Teleperformance,CSC,Impetus,Firstsource,etc have set up their
operations in Indore as well as seen to expand their existing business in
the last couple of years.
According to InfoBeans,a software services company, “Being the home
town of the co-founders,Indore was picked up for convenience to start
InfoBeans operations in 2000.However, even after 14 years in this
business and operations in California (US), Pune & Indore,Indore still
remains the Head Office bychoice.The ecosystem inthe city assist us
to have high retention rate, attract new talent and sustain a culture,
which creates WOW and deliver happiness for all stakeholders”.
Significant presence of academic and technical education institutes
provide skilled and educated talent poolfor white collared jobs.While
mid and senior level talent is a challenge like in most tier II locations, the

3. companies based out of Indore strongly believe that entry-level talent for
technical as well as non-technical positions is easily available in the city.
However, Indore has proved to be an attractive relocation city for people
across India. Good work-life balance and ease of travel within the city
attracts outstation candidates to the city.
There is a better than average employee retention rate in the city, due to
local manpower and strong commitmentof people to their own city. As a
result, employee attrition rate continues to be considerablylower than
Tier I cities and has remained in single digits.
While the State Government’s support has been instrumental and acted
as an important pillar behind the success storyof the city so far, it’s high
time that the MP Government should aggressivelypromote the city as a
preferred destinationfor IT-BPM Industry. The industry feels the need for
proposed set-up from large integrated IT companies,to materialize at
the earliest in order to expand overall IT ecosystem in the city and grow
the base further.
I believe that Indore has a lot of potential and can emerge as a key
destination for legal KPOs,medical transcription/KPO opportunities and
animation industry, provided the government continues to supportand
attract companies to the city.
- See more at:http://blogs.nasscom.in/the-rapid-rise-of-indore/#sthash.SDBNKpYU.dpuf