Torrential rain hits India's Silicon Valley, CEO goes to work by tractor
Bangalore, India's Silicon Valley, has faced relentless downpours for several nights, severely affecting traffic and business operations on the city's main outer ring road. The CEO of UpGrad, a well-known educational technology startup, said he had to ride a tractor to work because of a power outage at home.
▲ Disaster scene in Bangalore
Bangalore is a city in southern India, capital of Karnataka state. The successful establishment of high-tech companies in Bangalore has made it the center of Indian information technology and is known as "India's Silicon Valley." Well-known international companies such as Microsoft, Intel, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have offices in the region.
▲ India "Silicon Valley" Bangalore
Local media said the downpour over the past few days was the heaviest on record in Bangalore, where two deaths were reported and the Indian Meteorological Department issued a yellow rainstorm warning. The storm severely affected global businesses in Bangalore and caused tens of millions of tons of lost local productivity.
▲ Disaster scene in Bangalore
The glass tower on ORR, the main outer ring road in Bangalore, and the nearby office park have become home to about a million programmers and technical support staff who handle all kinds of important business here. The company resumed normal offline work after the Xinguan epidemic eased, but employees had to work at home again due to heavy rain.
In a letter to Karnataka's chief minister, members of the Outer Loop Companies Association complained in strong terms: "Heavy rains caused traffic jams for five hours, trapped workers and caused losses of about $30 million; poor infrastructure in Bangalore reduced the efficiency and productivity of the company and put the safety and well-being of employees at risk. The group said the company had to activate emergency plans to allow home office or relocation of critical work outside Bangalore to avoid reputational damage and financial loss to the company.
