Chandigarh IT companies incur losses due to economic depression

CHANDIGARH - The Information Technology (IT) companies in Chandigarh are incurring huge losses since past few months due to an unsupportive economic scenario.

Several IT companies are contemplating ending their operations and moving to other ‘business-friendly’ zones.

The small-scale units are claiming to be running into losses for the past few months.

The escalating costs of real estate and production has deeply impacted the smaller IT companies which are still reeling from the cascading effects of the global economic slump of 2009.

Entrepreneurs believe that the slackened demand for services and dipping availability of viable business opportunities has dented the image of Chandigarh as a profitable market.

Entrepreneurs also lamented the lack of government support in providing funds.
The Chief Operating Officer of the Techtier IT Solutions, Salil Mathur, revealed that most of the government sops went to the larger players, leaving the smaller IT ventures in the lurch.
The problem what we are facing are the right manpower and the right ecosystem, be it real estate availability or the support from the government. It is there, I am not denying it, but it is not up to the mark,” said Mathur.

“Moreover, what we see here, is the policies getting changed, new systems coming up. They are friendly to the lobby, which is the large players, but if you talk about the smaller players, there is nothing specifically done for them,” he added.

Dozens of IT ventures, already on the brink of closure, are presently working at minimum capacity.

The spiralling profits, however, from other economic zones such as Noida and Gurgaon have raised the aspiration levels of the IT entrepreneurs in Chandigarh, who are now vying to set up bases in these areas.

The founder Connoisseur Infotech, Vinay Johar, highlighted the business benefits of having a venture in Noida.

“Noida is a bigger IT area. Opportunities are more. They (the employees) feel more confident that they can find jobs as and when necessary. We feel Noida will get us the better talent at the right cost. Also, the cost of operations in terms of building and space will be much reduced from here,” said Johar. By Sunil Sharma (ANI)