Greater Bengaluru IT Companies and Industries Association calls for ‘strategic planning’ to save the city’s mounting challenges

Bengaluru: For a city often caught between the gleaming glass facades of its tech parks and the waterlogged reality of its streets, the Greater Bengaluru IT Companies and Industries Association (GBITCIA) CXO Meet 2025 held on Saturday served as a reality check.

Themed 'One Bengaluru, One Voice,' the summit brought together the city’s top corporate brass and government heavyweights, not for the usual exchange of pleasantries, but for a post-mortem of Bengaluru’s growth.

Labour Minister Santhosh S Lad, in his address, pointed out that while the room represented the elite 10 per cent of the industry, the 90% of the unorganised sector which provides 65 per cent of the city’s employment remains voiceless in policy-making. "Every officer, every government, every ministry has failed. We have not planned for the next 20 to 30 years," Lad remarked, urging the industry to stop relying on "liaison officers" and instead collaborate with the government on an international-standard strategic plan.

Adding a layer of administrative urgency, GBA Chief Commissioner M Maheshwar Rao detailed a Rs 2,300 crore plan for road improvements to be completed before the monsoon. Rao noted that the Metro has already reduced Silk Board congestion by 38 per cent and promised that the completion of the Outer Ring Road (ORR) Metro by next year would provide substantial relief.

The meet also featured a statistical defense of the city by KDEM CEO Sanjeev Kumar Gupta, who noted that Bengaluru remains the heart of India’s wealth, contributing 42 per cent of the nation's software exports. However, GBITCIA Chairman Aditya P S emphasised that this success is currently hindered by "fragmented voices". To bridge this, the association unveiled six pillars for 2026, including an ‘Employee Readiness Index’ and a Metropolitan Liaison Body to provide quantitative data to the government.

The meeting concluded with a call to action from Prof M V Rajeev Gowda: to move from "complaining mode" to "action mode". CSR-driven infrastructure change, govt-citizen collaboration (e.g.,The Ugly Indian model), and strategic leadership for first/last-mile connectivity and generational progress.