Published 19:06 IST, July 11th 2024
Pune’s IT hub sees exodus of 37 tech companies in 6 months: Know more
Of the 4 lakh techies who worked at Pune's Hinjewadi prior to COVID-19, only half have returned to offices.

Techies ditch Pune: As many as 37 companies have deserted the Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park at Pune’s Information Technology (IT) hub Hinjewadi and relocated to other parts of the country during the last six months. The gloom and doom caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has left an adverse impact, with the influx of techies in the Hinjewadi IT hub, having halved from 4 lakh before the pandemic to now just 2 lakh techies attending their offices at the Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park each day.
Republic Business spoke to Puneites, including the Hinjewadi Industries Association representative based at Pune’s Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park to gauge the situation, as to why techies were leaving for safer shores.
Rajiv Gandhi Infotech park
Pune-based research agency Technology Transfer Association in a report had recently stated that dozens of IT companies have left Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park for greener pastures. The news of IT companies' exodus was carried extensively by Pune-based news outlet Punekar News in a news article published recently on its portal. Veteran analyst Yashwant Gharpure told Republic Business that decongesting the Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park is the need of the hour.
As per Gharpure, who heads the Technology Transfer Association, the construction work of the Pune Metro in the Hinjewadi stretch, has witnessed inordinate delays causing massive traffic jams in the IT hub, especially during peak travel hours, leaving the commuters high and dry.
“The Metro work in Phase-1 and Phase-3 of the Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park has been a major hurdle for smooth movement of commuters, especially office goers. The work has failed to witness completion in the stipulated time that has caused a mess in the IT hub and tech professionals don't now prefer to work from their offices and rather prefer working from home,” said Gharpure.
Charanjeet Singh Bhogal, COO of Hinjewadi Industries Association says the biggest challenge companies are facing is to convince the full workforce to join back workplaces.
Bhogal says less than half of the pre-pandemic workforce of four lakh techies at present physically attend office at Hinjewadi, which is home to the likes of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro, and Tech Mahindra. “I am cautiously optimistic about the prospectus of the infotech park. I won’t say it is a completely bleak situation. Still, it is a matter of concern,” said Bhogal, adding that Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), the nodal agency for the Hinjewadi IT park, is working overtime to boost the civic infrastructure at the IT hub.
Infrastructure woes
As per Bhogal, the Hinjewadi Industries Association COO, a six-lane road that is under construction as part of a town planning scheme at the Hinjewadi IT park will help decongest the area, but only once the entire stretch is completed.
“A meeting was recently held which was chaired by Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis during which the civic development issues were raised. We are hopeful that the entire IT park will become better,” added Bhogal.
Hinjewadi’s tech significance
Between the years 2000 and 2005, Pune emerged as an IT hub with over four lakh IT professionals working at the Hinjewadi and other IT hubs of the city. As many as Rs 60,000 crore investment in Hinjewadi IT park apart from other IT hubs like Magarpatta and Kharadi, had given Pune the tag of possibly becoming the “Silicon Valley of India”. As per Gharpure, despite much fanfare among global IT cities, Pune’s ranking is 342, while Mumbai stood at 85, Delhi NCR at 127, Bangalore at 139, Chennai at 224, and Hyderabad at 321.
None of the indigenous IT companies from Pune figure in the Forbes Top 100 Information Technology companies. Local IT ecosystem which evolved between the year 2000 and 2005 have not been able to withstand the test of time,” added Gharpure, adding that over three dozen IT companies have left Pune in the last six months, which the veteran analyst says has come as a shock to many.
“Also known as Oxford of East, Pune has many old and reputed educational institutions and the city has a huge scope to rebuild its IT hub but what we are seeing right now at the Hinjewadi IT park in terms of the exodus is shocking,” added the veteran Pune-based analyst Gharpure.
Updated 19:18 IST, July 11th 2024