Two decades ago, everyone was moving out to India’s metropolitan cities, turning the likes of Delhi and Mumbai into career destinations. A decade ago, Bengaluru and Hyderabad expanded, becoming home to software powerhouses like Amazon and Google.
Now, in 2023 — three years of a global pandemic and waves upon waves of a deadly virus later — tier 2 and tier 3 cities are taking back the spotlight. According to an Economic Times survey, 30% of people surveyed in metropolitan areas want to move out of these cities.
With cities like Surat, Indore, Kochi, Jaipur and Lucknow rising up the ranks in connectivity, amenities and access, the country’s smaller cities are now just as attractive as metropolitan cities. These cities now boast better infrastructural support, quicker internet, favourable working conditions, better transport communication, and accessibility to an immense pool of talent than before; add the normalisation of remote work to the mix and India’s big cities could be waging a losing battle.
The case for these cities is also helped by the expansion of what used to be big city amenities — Swiggy, Zomato, Amazon — into the far reaches of the country.
Fast food chains like McDonalds — once only available in three, maybe four cities — are now setting up in Salem, Erode and Belgaum. Meanwhile, e-commerce mammoth Amazon saw 68% of its sign-ups originate from tier 2 and 3 cities, during its Great Indian Festival last year.
Tech firms eye small-town India
With the pandemic having proved that work-from-anywhere is possible and mid-to-senior talent moving away from the bigger cities for a better work-life balance, smaller tier 2 and tier 3 cities are emerging as future tech talent hubs. Chandigarh, Vadodara, Indore, Coimbatore, Kochi and Trivandrum are emerging in importance as employment hubs in IT, a Randstad Insights Talent Trends Report said last year.
Top technology companies and consulting firms are signing up for large flexible office spaces across tier II towns as corporations adopt a hybrid work model offering employees a choice to work out of satellite premises, ET had reported last year. Companies such as Google, Accenture, Deloitte, Persistent Systems, Tech Mahindra, and IBM have signed large flexible office-space deals for up to 1,000 seats across cities, driven by talent availability and reverse migration witnessed post-Covid.
Infosys is setting up four new offices in tier II cities in a bid to be closer to the available talent pool, Krishnamurthy Shankar, group head of human resource development told ET last year. The company already had smaller centres in Indore and Nagpur but is now setting up offices in Coimbatore, Vizag, Kolkata and Noida.
Intel India is ramping up its focus on hiring from tier 2 and tier 3 colleges. Every year the company engages with five-six newer sets of tier 2 and 3 colleges with the intent to expand its pool and tap into the best available talent. "Great talent is no longer confined to a boundary, and as an organisation, our constant endeavour is to identify and bring home passionate and driven young minds from these colleges," Vijay Colaco, HR director, Intel India, told ET a few months ago.
Read more at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/watch-out-india-now-bharat-has-started-to-rise/articleshow/99436074.cms
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