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Pune: The emerging IT R&D hub
Shilpa Phadnis, The Times of India | May 10, 2013,
Pune has surpassed Bangalore as a hub for high-end engineering design and product development work done out of MNC firms' R&D outposts.
Some 12% of product teams based in Pune are doing highvalue product development work compared to 8% in Bangalore , said IT advisory firm Zinnov in its Maturity Benchamarking Study that surveyed 220 product teams across 30 MNC R&D firms in the country.
Product teams based out of Pune no longer play second fiddle to their global teams, supporting them with coding, testing and quality assurance. They have moved up the maturity curve managing the product pipeline, customer interface and channel partnerships.
This has resulted in greater mindshare at the headquarters and hence, they are able to drive high-value work from India. With over 350 MNC R&D centres, Bangalore remains a hotbed of activity in the country . But Pune has emerged as an attractive destination for product development leveraging on its skilled workforce in executing product design and engineering capabilities.
"R&D centres set up in the last 3-5 years have brought products at higher maturity as they see India as a destination for core product development. Bangalore had a headstart in engineering support while Pune has leveraged on its talent pool to recalibrate its strengths towards product capabilities early on," said Preeti Anand, engagement manager in Zinnov . Currently, Pune has over 110 MNC R&D centres employing 24,000 people.
Shantanu Ghosh, MD of Indian product operations in software security firm Symantec, said Pune had the positives of Bangalore in terms of the ecosystems and talent pool. "But there is a shift in the mindset to component ownership rather than offering support R&D services ," he added.
Medical devices manufacturer Varian Medical Systems entered India through the acquisition of Pune-based Cedera in 2007, to initially provide customer support to its global centres in Palo Alto, Helsinki and Switzerland . It later went on do complex work like asset tracking for software application and remote deployment of software for managing cancer clinics, radiotherapy centers, and medical oncology practices. It also provides tubes and digital detectors for X-ray imaging used in medical, scientific, and industrial applications. "Each R&D team has a mission statement and value proposition in areas like business intelligence , technology and infrastructure connectivity," said Niraj Kumar, engineering manager in Varian.
In the recent past, a lot of companies have set up their R&D centres in Pune. Nasdaq-listed product company PTC's R&D centre in Pune contributes to its core product development . Software firm Pitney Bowes opened a second R&D centre in the country in Pune to do work on its digital mailbox solution Volly. Global manufacturing & technology company Emerson set up its export engineering center in the city for software design. Other firms like Allscripts, Faurecia, Tomtom , Fiat and Fairchild Semiconductor too have flocked to the city recently.
A number of Bangalore’s IT culture greats were nurtured by Pune: Premji and Narayanmurthy. Famous Punekars inc;ude Jayant Naralikar renowned Astrophysicist and Vijay Bhatkar (creator ) of PARAM. Kannada actors Shankar, Anant and Arundhati Nag are from Pune, which is a melting pot for Culture and Technology
Pune beats Mumbai, Delhi in rise of the super-rich
MARCH OF THE MILLIONAIRES
Kounteya Sinha TNN 2013/05/11
Pune has witnessed the biggest boom in population of multimillionaires across India in the last five years — a whopping 68% rise.
Neighbour Mumbai saw the second highest growth in the country’s super rich population at 59% between 2007-11, while Delhi followed with more than a 50% increase in those with net assets of over $30 million. Bangalore saw a 46% increase, Hyderabad 43%, Chennai 25%, Ahmedabad 18% and Kolkata 12%.
Overall, India saw a 46% increase in super-rich population between 2007-11.
But when it comes to total number of multimillionaires, Mumbai boasts of the lion’s share across India with over 1 in 3 (36.6%) of India’s multimillionaires. In all, 577 live in Mumbai, followed way behind by Delhi (147), Kolkata 126, Hyderabad (114) and Bangalore (97). Chennai is ranked 6th with a multimillionaire population of 88 followed by Pune (55) and Ahmedabad (51).
According to a research by WealthInsight, there were 1,576 multi-millionaires in India at the end of 2011. The research has highlighted some major trends — the number of multimillionaires in India increased by 46% between 2007-11.
Mumbai’s multimillionaire numbers increased substantially (59%). Pune’s count grew by the largest margin over the review period (68%), aided by both its proximity to Mumbai and also by robust growth in the local automotive, manufacturing and technology sectors. The number of super-rich in Bangalore and Hyderabad were boosted by strong growth in their services sectors, which make up the bulk of multimillionaire wealth in these two cities.
India is also home to some of the fastest growing cities for ultra-high net worth individuals. High net worth individuals, known as millionaires or HNWIs, refer to individuals with net assets of US$1 million or more excluding primary residences. Ultra high net worth individuals or UHNWIs are individuals with net assets of US$30 million or more excluding their primary residences.
By 2016, 30% of the fastest UHNWIs growth centers will be in India, including four of the top five (Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Mumbai). India currently has the third highest number of HNWIs in Asia-Pacific after China and Australia. In 2011, there are 251,000 HNWIs in India who, together, hold a total of $1,083 billion. Mumbai is home to almost 40% of HNWIs.
The WealthInsight study said, “But the number of UHNWIs in Pune grew by the largest margin over the review period and received our highest Rating of Private Banking Potential. The rating is backed up by strong recent growth and a relatively low penetration of private banks when compared to the likes of Mumbai.”
India will see the strongest growth in the years ahead with the number of HNWIs in the country more than doubling by 2016 (103%).
