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Bangalore dropped from Siemens' expansion plan

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: Siemens Ltd. has decided to freeze all expansion plans in Bangalore in the wake of crumbling infrastructure in the city.

"There will be no more expansion plans in Bangalore. Bangalore is not attractive for investors anymore", company's Managing Director Jurgen Schubert said here on Friday.

This is the strongest vindication of the worsening infrastructure in the city from the head of a global manufacturing giant.

Siemens was one of the first to set up operations in Bangalore with huge investments.

Apart from the manufacturing base for automotive sector and servicing workshop for industrial turbines, Bangalore is a hub for telecom, medical and automotive software development and high-end research and development work for Siemens. Its outsourcing arm alone employs about 900 people in Bangalore.

Bangalore accounts for one-third (around 4600 employees) of the company's employee strength of over 12,000 in India and contributed 24 per cent of the turnover in India last fiscal, whereas the southern region has 45 per cent (about 5,500 employees) of the employee strength.

Mr. Schubert told The Hindu that Siemens will look at cities such as Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and even Kolkata to expand its business activities.

"Bangalore is in a mess. The road and power infrastructure is chaotic. Besides, you can't get hotel rooms here," he said.

"If you have running operations, workers will have to come on time. But what is happening in Bangalore is that employees are spending more and more time on the road. If workers reach office tired after spending long hours on the road, efficiency will come down," he said.

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