Funding winter, higher costs complicate Bengaluru’s position as India’s Silicon Valley

[BENGALURU] Venture funding in Bengaluru has plunged even as costs keep rising, putting pressure on companies that have set up in the tech hub widely known as the Silicon Valley of India.

Bengaluru’s attractiveness as a tech and engineering hub is precisely what drives the rising cost of doing business, which has outpaced that of other Indian cities, said NMP Jeyesh, regional director (southern region) of the Confederation of Indian Industry, a business advocacy group.

Competition for resources is also fierce. Manufacturers, which typically require larger land parcels, are particularly “feeling the heat”, he added. “I think (Bengaluru) is also going short on (available) land parcels.”