Infra, Infra, Infra: What tech and startup hub Bengaluru wants from the new Karnataka government

Voters in the city continue to put their faith in the BJP, which won 16 of the 28 seats, while the Congress bagged the remaining 12 seats.

With a new government set to take over in Karnataka, the country’s tech and startup capital, Bengaluru, has its hopes up.

The Congress swept 135 seats in the 224-member Karnataka legislative assembly to displace the BJP-run administration.

Despite having a vibrant startup ecosystem, Bengaluru has been plagued by crumbling infrastructure, traffic woes, potholes, and flooding/water-logging during rains. In a series titled ‘Karnataka Elections: Eye on Bengaluru,’ Moneycontrol highlighted these pressing issues before the assembly polls.

Several CEOs, startup founders, investors, and venture capitalists have flagged the poor infrastructure and traffic woes, but little has been done by elected representatives and administrators to remedy them, so far. The infrastructure is clearly not keeping up with the pace of the city's growth.

What corporate leaders want

Prashanth Prakash, partner at Accel Partners, a venture capital firm, has emphasized the need for a greater focus on emerging clusters beyond Bengaluru. He told Moneycontrol that creating a Greater Bengaluru tech cluster that includes Mysuru and Devanahalli, as well as continuing and scaling programs like Elevate and accelerating the growth of women entrepreneurship through special programmes.

Prakash also recommended state-specific Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes to boost the domestic manufacturing of high-tech products. He proposed that the state government establish a Rs 100 crore Beyond Bengaluru cluster seed fund to support growth-stage startups in Mysuru, Hubbali-Dharwad, and Mangaluru, enabling the scaling and transformation of these emerging technology clusters into startup destinations beyond Bengaluru.

Sanjay Swamy, an entrepreneur and early-stage VC, told Moneycontrol that the new government in Bengaluru needs to address the city's traffic, housing, and physical infrastructure challenges. In addition, the government should adopt a policy for consuming innovative products and services to maintain its status as a preferred destination for startups.

Swamy, who is the managing partner of Bengaluru-based Prime Venture Partners, said Karnataka is already leading the way in defining paperless, cashless, and signature-less transactions, which are driving mass inclusion, transparency, and lower costs for service providers. He urges the government to capitalise on this opportunity and collaborate with the startup ecosystem in a win-win approach.

Amit Gupta, co-founder and CEO of Yulu, a Bengaluru-based mobility firm, told Moneycontrol the new government should primarily focus on expediting Metro rail work, creating wider pavements, dedicated bicycle lanes, better road infrastructure, and additional electric buses to strengthen public transport. Additionally, creating satellite towns would be another way to ease the burden on Bengaluru's infrastructure, said Gupta. “Rail connectivity to nearby satellite towns with better frequency and reduced travel time will encourage more people to shift to the outskirts and will also decongest the city to an extent,” he suggested.

Industrialist V Mohandas Pai tweeted that citizens look forward to growth, job-oriented, and corruption-free government. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, executive chairperson of Biocon Limited, echoed him and tweeted after the poll results, "Infrastructure development, economic prosperity & social harmony are the metrics that people will measure to elect its representatives."

Neelakantha Bhanu, CEO of Bhanzu, an edtech startup, told Moneycontrol that this is a crucial opportunity for the government to prioritise the growth of the startup ecosystem. "Improved connectivity on public transportation is the need of the hour. Accelerating the ongoing Metro work and promoting affordable public transportation options, will offer a cost-effective alternative to expensive cab aggregators and will lighten the load on pockets. This, in turn, will boost the state's economy," said Bhanu.

He also emphasised that collaboration between the government and private sector is vital to bridge the skill gap and offer relevant up-skilling opportunities.

Girish Nagpal, CEO and founder of Metroride, a last-mile mobility start-up, told Moneycontrol that the government should roll out policies to support public-private partnerships (PPP) and promote last-mile connectivity. Private firms are not competing with public transport, he emphasises, and are ready to complement it. He also suggested that existing policies that are good should be continued, apart from taking up new initiatives to improve urban mobility, as they may be affected whenever there is a regime change.

At the Moneycontrol’s Policy Next Karnataka Summit, many founders and investors highlighted the need for the government to collaborate with startups to address and solve last-mile delivery issues.

"Startups can solve a lot of infrastructural issues. All we expect from the government is to facilitate, cooperate and not stop innovation. In a lot of cases, you are banned overnight. Probably, a dialogue would be helpful to understand why the decision is taken," said Vivekanand Hallekere, co-founder of Bounce, a mobility start-up.

Chaitra Chidanand, co-founder of Salt, a platform that assists women in mapping their money and making investment decisions, said at the event, "As a startup founder in Bengaluru, what I care about is the infrastructure. I would love to see infrastructure development happen at 10x speed. I don't know which political party delivers it, and I honestly don't care. But Bengaluru needs that."

Investment opportunities lost

Speaking at Moneycontrol's Policy Next Karnataka event, Congress spokesperson Rajeev Gowda said that Karnataka, and specifically its capital Bengaluru, "shockingly" lost out to Tamil Nadu in landing investments from key players in the electric vehicle industry such as Ola and Ather

While Karnataka recorded its highest-ever polling of 73.19%,  Bengaluru’s voter turnout remained fairly low  due to multiple factors including errors in electoral rolls and voters’ apathy.

Voters in the city continue to put their faith in the BJP, which won 16 of the 28 seats, while the Congress bagged the remaining 12 seats. The BJP retained assembly segments having IT clusters such as Mahadevapura, Bommanahalli, KR Puram, and CV Raman Nagar, while Congress retained BTM Layout, which covers areas like Koramangala.