Coimbatore calling

Coimbatore arguably offers the best of both worlds. Economic opportunities of a big city without its chaos. Access to competitive talent without traffic snarls. And a growing number of tech companies have caught on to this and are setting up operations and capability centres.
Living expenses are affordable, homes and schools are easy to find, the commute is short and hassle free, and the weather is pleasant, says Dharani Parameswaran, assistant manager at iMerit, a tech company which recently opened an office in Coimbatore.
A recent report by Randstad points to significant growth of investments and hiring activity across tier-2 cities in India, primarily driven by global capability centre (GCC) activity to tap young and local talent. And, Coimbatore is one the cities with highest additions in new jobs.
Coimbatore has emerged as a significant IT hub over the last 18-24 months, primarily driven by improved infrastructure and a growing skilled talent pool, says Milind Shah, managing director of Randstad Digital India. "Coimbatore featured in the top 10 list of highest hiring demand in tier-2 cities across experience levels in sectors such as BFSI, manufacturing, IT, retail, pharma, healthcare and life science, and energy. Recent trends indicate the increasing importance of technology-driven roles, including automation, robotics, and data analytics," he says.
An increasing number of information technology companies and GCCs have started operations in Coimbatore in the past three years and not because of cost arbitrage, says Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, partner at Catalincs and former CMD of Cognizant India. While salaries are comparable, better quality of life, rich talent pool in science, technology and engineering, and good research and development culture is why companies have embraced this city, he says.
"About 20 years back, Coimbatore had two anchor companies —Cognizant and Robert Bosch. These companies validated that Coimbatore is a great place to establish and grow at scale. Looking at their success, dozens of technology companies and GCCs were drawn to it," he adds.
The city is attracting women employees from the neighbouring districts of Karur, Erode, Salem, Tirupur and even Trichy. "Generally parents are happier if their wards find employment in Coimbatore, which is still perceived to be safer and relatively conservative," says Dr Ashok Bakthavathsalam, founder of KGiSL group consisting of technology companies and education institutions. "It provides an opportunity for women who would not otherwise take up employment or shift to other cities," he adds.
Part of Coimbatore's IT story since 2005, Bakthavathsalam initially helped Bosch and Sony set up captive centres under the build-operate-transfer model. "Quality of life, schools, healthcare, safety, workers with domain expertise allowed GCCs to be set up here. Homegrown IT companies such as KGSiL, Payoda, 500+ startups contributed to the talent pool to achieve critical size. Homecoming aspect for people in senior leadership positions at IT firms played a crucial part in establishing GCCs in the city," he says.
Coimbatore produced a lot of engineering graduates between 2000 and 2010, who went to other cities both in India and abroad. "A lot of these people wanted to go back home with the learning they had. They explored opportunities through startups and other ways," says Ganesh Shankar, CEO and co-founder of Responsive, a Coimbatore- and US-based tech firm. Shankar says during the early days of setting up the company, there was a limited candidate pool in areas such as sales and finance; that is getting better now.
To ensure broad-based development in Tamil Nadu, it is crucial that technological progress is not limited to Chennai, says Reji Joseph, vice-president of TiE Chennai. "Rapid growth of startups in Coimbatore is a largely recent trend and is likely to continue. Coimbatore's advantages include superior talent retention and strong collaboration with local educational institutions. The availability of skilled and trainable staff, combined with lower operational costs make Coimbatore increasingly attractive," he adds.
However, various stakeholders TOI spoke to stress the need for immediate upgrade of airport, roads, and parks. "We need to wake up before problems like in Chennai and Bengaluru arise here," says Bakthavathsalam.
Coimbatore may have cracked the code on becoming a talent and opportunity magnet among non-metros. But without urgent infrastructure upgrades, the advantages that make it a thriving, liveable city could start to unravel.