Indore and Tech!

Last Updated on: July 21, 2020

Like any upcoming city, Indore too serves a platter of challenges and opportunities for any tech startup like us. Here’s my impression of the two major thing that a techno company expects from it’s city: Resource and Infrastructure.

Finding good talent in a non-metro city is always a grey area and Indore is no different. With the best talent making a beeline for the metros in search of better opportunity, the city does feel the pinch of brain drain. However, Indore being an education hub, gravitates the young talent from the villages in vicinity. While not very polished, this crowd has tremendous potential that is only waiting to be unleashed. This, to me, is one of the USP of the city.
Also, the coming of IT industries like Infosys and TCS should create the needed stir required to shatter the false perception that IT career in the city can quickly get saturated. One hopes that the advent of these biggies can turnaround the human resource landscape of the city irreversibly.

Keeping aside talent, I would like to make a remark on the lack of professionalism that I have observed in the city. This might be a personal experience, but compared to cities like Bangalore, Pune I found the crowd in Indore very laid back and not aligned with the professional standards that the IT industry warrants. Absenteeism, notice period tantrums, indifference to delivery dates have been a regular phenomenon. While things are definitely changing, the “chalta hai” and “jugaad” attitude is deeply entrenched in the local populace. This is one void, the onus of filling which should be taken by the city colleges.

Coming to Infrastructure, the picture ain’t that rosy. The city has witnessed some adhoc and rapid development in the past 4 -5 years and the infra has been found wanting. The roads are choked, there are frequent electricity cuts, internet penetration is only picking up, water is an issue in summer and the city isn’t considered very safe for women in late hours (a huge problem given the time zone issues of the IT business).
With Indore being the poster boy of the state govt’s development drive, one hopes that the situation would change swiftly. While the Crystal IT park, has finely got off ground (Systango is moving there as well!), there are still miles to go.

However, the city offers many positives as well. The low cost of operating and the comparatively lower salaries (when compared to metros) are a huge advantage for any tech startup during it’s nascent stages when budget is a major constraint. This, dovetailed with the supply of talent, makes Indore a very lucrative destination for starting a tech venture. Also, the lack of cut throat competition that exists in metros gives the cushion that every start-up require in it’s infancy. Also, the renewed vigour with which the govt seems to be pushing Indore to dot India’s IT map, makes this the best time to invest in the city.

There is no doubt that our experience has been a mixed bag. But we can safely say that the plus have far outweighed the negative.. The city has been good to us, and the emotional connect of our leadership team with the city makes for the icing on the cake. We wish the romance only grows with time!