Taking stock of Chennai’s problems

In one of my earlier posts regarding Chennai, I received an anonymous comment from a person who has recently relocated to Chennai. I though of highlighting the same as Chennai / TN is attracting lot of new investments and more people are expected to move to Chennai in the near future. These issues need to be addressed so that Chennai can position itself as an ideal place for people to come and settle down

Water Problem – Politicians talk about this whenever there is an election. Nothing much happens after that.

Commuting (Autowallahs) – Yes, the auto drivers do cheat and for people coming from Bangalore this can be a rude shock. The auto drivers may not be able to speak Hindi or English. If you are an outsider, it is highly likely that you'll be fleeced. However not much can be done about this in the short run (unless the govt. steps in and brings in stringent measures to ensure that the Auto drivers ply by the meter).

Night Life & Pub Culture – Although Chennai can’t emulate Bangalore, Chennai does have it’s (minority) share of nightspots (some of them have sprung up in the recent past).

Renting a house – Landlords normally prefer to rent their houses to families. Hence most of the bachelors might find it difficult to find a place. This was the situation a few years back. I don’t know how this has changed in the recent past.

Climate – Radio Mirchi’s tagline says it all: Sema Hot Machi!

Ma Foi Report on Job Opportunities

Ma Foi Consultants recently published a report which said that Chennai leads the pack as far as the growth rate for job opportunities is concerned. The report also stated that people hesitate to move to Chennai because of the lifestyle and the climate.


Business Today report on the investment climate in TN

Business Today (dated 8th May) looks at the investment climate in TN. According to this BT report Infosys is building its biggest ever campus at Mahindra City, which is coming up at the outskirts of Chennai. MNC’s like St. Gobain and Hyundai, which have put in huge investments in TN are on expansion mode and they are pumping in more money to augment their capacity. Patni Computer Systems is also building a campus in Chennai.

Some of the positives outlined in this article are locational benefits (such as sea port, air port etc), availability of skilled manpower, limited interference from trade unions, lower cost of living and lower attrition rate

Let’s now look at the problems that Business Today has outlined–

• Water scarcity
• Threat of auto ancillary firms moving to the North
• States like West Bengal wooing IT firms
• Laid back work culture; not enterprising
• Corruption is rife in the system

Although we can’t negate the first 3 problems, I beg to differ to on the last 2 problems. The corruption factor is not unique to TN and hence the state can’t be singled out on this front. I don’t quite understand what made the author decide that TN has a laid-back work culture.

If we don’t make adequate changes to make Chennai a conducive place for newcomers to come and settle down, we might just lose out on some of the opportunities that come our way.