Electronics City is one of the largest electronic industrial parks in India, covering an area of more than 332 acres. Located in Konappana Agrahara and Doddathogur villages, Electronics City is just a few minutes drive from Bangalore. The complex is comprised of more than one hundred different companies, many of which are undisputed giants in the IT industry. Some of the more noteworthy companies that have offices in Electronics City are Hewlett Packard, Infosys, CGI, and Siemens.
Electronics City started out as a vision for the future by R.K. Baliga, who was instrumental in the success of the noted electronics giant, Karnataka Electronics. Baliga planned Electronics City with the idea of making Bangalore Indias own Silicon Valley after the famous industrial area in the United States. Baliga was unfortunately unable to see his plans come to full bloom, having passed away before the citys completion.
With the death of Baliga, it was the liberalization of Indias economy as championed by the likes of P.V. Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh that would give Electronics City the push that it needed to develop into a viable industrial park. It was then that Electronics City grew to the industrial giant that it is today.
The late 1990s brought about the passing over of Electronics City to ELCIA or the Electronics City Industries Association by the Keonics group.It was during this time that representatives from the different departments were fielded in order to address various governance and management concerns.
There are currently three phases to Electronics City, namely, Phase I, Phase II and Phase III. Phase I and Phase II lie on opposite sides of Hosur Road. With the development of Phase II of the complex, Electronics City experienced a considerable increase in the number of companies breaking ground in the area. Unfortunately, this also caused a corresponding worsening in the traffic conditions leading to Bangalore. In order to ease the traffic, construction work on an elevated road was started in late 2004. Initiated by the government, this road building project is only one sign of the continued viability of Electronics City for the future.
The building of the highway is actually quite timely, given the presence of many high profile industries in the area. With the establishment of offices and facilities by such heavyweights as Sasken, Convergys, Audi, BMW, Honda, General Motors and many others, Electronics City is definitely in a position to benefit from newer and bigger development projects.