Sleepy City Has High Hopes, Dreaming of High Tech

The sleepy farm state capital of Chandigarh may soon become the "technology hub of northern India." In recent years, tens of thousands of jobs have flooded to India from the US and Europe as high tech companies, attracted by cheap, qualified labor, transfer their call centers en masse. India's "first tier" technology hubs, including cities like Bangalore and Bombay, have received the majority of these jobs. But increasingly, smaller cities like Chandigarh, where labor costs are even more competitive, are becoming the destination of choice for high tech companies. Strong local education systems and aggressive campaigns launched by local government officials are also contributing to the burgeoning appeal of these smaller cities. One local technology worker described the phenomenon in terms of the tech boom in the US during the 1990s and expects an explosion of jobs. "We expect 5,000 new jobs in the next six months to one year," he said, predicting that five new call centers would open – in addition to the three started up in the last 18 months. – YaleGlobal