Indore could not become an IT destination :-(

There was one attempt in the past to build a platform for Indore to jump on national IT scene, it was widely believed that an IT park is needed to attract one of the top 5 national players in Indore. And once likes of TCS/Infosys/Wipro comes to Indore, it will automatically attract other players and will put Indore into limelight as new preferred IT destination.

I agree with the thought, but it did not get implemented to its fullest on ground.

Crystal IT Park at Indore became an half-hearted attempt from the MP government to bring Indore and MP on the IT map of India. It was well conceived by the then MPAKVN head Mr Vivek Agrawal, he made all his sincere efforts to get to a final state, he made several sales presentations to bigger IT players at national level.

Unfortunately for Indore and MP, he was transferred to other city and the entire momentum, needed to finish off the incomplete building and bring in a prospective buyer, died down.

Since then this is waiting for its destined place in commercial capital of Indore. I strongly disagree a common place thinking that bigger IT or ITES players are not interested in Indore or MP per say. I believe that Indore has rightfully earned its distinctions like mini-mumbai, commercial capital of MP, education hub in central India etc. There is no other city in the country which can boast of IIT and IIM together.

Indore has it all

1. Very good weather – similar to Pune and Bangalore
2. Large pool of IT graduates coming out of college every year
3. A large pool of IT professionals are already working in various IT companies across India and overseas too, who long to come back to Indore
4. Low cost of living
5. Lesser distance to commute to work
6. Reliable telecom infrastructure to support high end data communication needs
7. So why does Indore does not have a single IT park (except for a mini electronic complex)?

To me this is mainly because

1. Poor political will and leadership at city and state level to promote Indore as IT destination
2. Poor air/train connectivity of Indore from rest of the IT destinations like Bangalore/Pune/Hyderabad
3. Poor brand image of MP
4. Barring Webdunia and Impetus, state could not generate national level players and hence we could not get deserved attention from IT stalwarts

We can only wish that things are going to improve from here, MPAKVN is putting up the park for another round of bidding.

Let us see if the successful bidder gets successful in bringing a national IT player to Indore.