Pune has been described as the Oxford of the East, Detroit of India and one that is poised to becoming the San Jose of Asia.

It stands at the other end of the 'Knowledge Corridor', an expressway in the form of a superhighway promoted by the Maharashtra State Government, linking its economic capital Mumbai with Pune as the Knowledge Capital of the State.

The three I's in the form of Institutions, Infrastructure and Industries are donning this corridor to create more opportunities and wealth for the state and for the country, under the Maharashtra government's anytime, anyhow, anywhere (AAA) objective in its IT Policy of empowerment through connectivity. An economic perspective of the developments that have taken place and consideration of the emerging trends resulting from various initiatives makes it apparent that Pune will emerge as the IT capital of the 21st Century. A sound academic system, solid industrial infrastructure and a salubrious climate for most part of the year apart from the peaceful social milieu, and a rich, comfortable pace of life has made Pune the preferred destination for national and international software companies.

THE TRANSFORMATION
Pune was well known internationally for industrial product manufacture. Companies like Philips, Bajaj, Kirloskars, Telco, Honda, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindustan Antibiotics, Kalyani Sharp, Mercedes Benz, Alfa Laval, SKF Bearings have come to be regarded as industrial landmarks. Added to these are 7000 other small, medium and large scale industries that are housed in the city. On the academic front, institutions like Pune University which celebrated its Golden Jubilee this year, houses the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics (IUCAA), National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) which emerged as centres of excellence in specific areas. Institutions like Fergusson College and the dozen or more engineering and medical institutions have also made substantial contribution. The national Defence Academy, Institute of Armament Technology, Army Institute of Technology, Armed Forces Medical College, Symbiosis Institute, Deccan College, British Council Library and the Film and Television Institute of India are the other major academic institutions which have grown in popularity. Following the path of Bangalore and Hyderabad, Pune's software industry devised its plans to put the city on the Information Technology map of the country. Pune's association with the software industry dates back to the early 1980s, when Infosys set up shop in the city. The first Software Technology Park of India (STPI) was also located in this very city, and is now growing at a rapid rate.

INFRASTRUCTURAL BACK-UP
The City and State administration are, as part of the State's Information Technology Policy, implementing plans for Pune at the other end of the Knowledge corridor. Pune Infocity, expansion programs of STPI and of Infosys, Wipro, Mahindra British Telecom, Satyam & TCS, the proposed IIIT, Software Engineering College in affiliation with a well known foreign university like Carnegie Mellon University, optimum utilization plans of Arvi Earth Station by VSNL, ETH Research Laboratory, for bringing education to home through an Internet service, Internet expansion through cable by Maharashtra Cable Association, moving up the value chain through intellectual resource intensive designs of integrated circuits and software at the hands of Cirrus Logic and Scala Mindworks, C-DAC's pioneering efforts to sustain India's position in the Supercomputing world and Pune University's plan to spread Information Technology education, are some steps in this direction. Financial institutions, such as the EXIM Bank, ICICI, Pune Stock Exchange, Mahratta Chambers of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture (MCCIA) and Pune Municipal Corporation are actively lending their support too.

Pune's ability to carve and retain a niche for itself can be benchmarked to the three solid brands it established for the country - PARAM, INDICA and BAJAJ.

The Sankhya Wahini project of the Government has selected Pune as one of the first level ten cities to be connected over a wide bandwidth network (10 GBPS), which will allow quality education to be delivered through distance education to every connected institution.

PUNE's USP
PUNE's transformation into an Information Technology city ready for the 21st century has largely been due to the availability of specialized and professional manpower, infrastructure in terms of relatively cheap Real Estate, abundant water and power.

Pune is well connected to the commercial capital of India, Mumbai, which is within reach by road and air in 3-4 hours with the new express highway expected to further bring down this time to just 2 hours by road.

The digital network of Pune Telecom, better bandwidth available from VSNL, Arvi earth station and Iridium's proposed earth station in Pune makes Pune a Gateway to the world. To conclude, Pune is the right blend of peace and prosperity, a potpourri of the old and new, home to sound education and industrial infrastructure, and a city that is witnessing a major transformation, to become the IT city of the 21st Century.

The credit goes to a number of institutions that have individually and collectively worked towards such a vision to be converted into reality. This is a pace that is now gathering momentum and will gather momentum in coming days.

by Shri. R.K. Arora
Executive Director
Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune.