Pune, Hyderabad most preferred by techies: Report

Pune and Hyderabad are the cities most preferred by technology professionals, finds a new survey. Parameters like IT infrastructure, less traffic congestion and better quality of life make Pune the top city of choice for tech talent, while big IT companies moving their offices to Hyderabad and a cheaper cost of living allowed the city to claim the second position in cities preferred by tech professionals.
The 'Which City Next? 2022 : Factors Determining Tech Talent's Migration in India' by global recruitment firm Catenon, finds that tech workers in Bengaluru command the highest salaries compared to other cities. Chennai houses leading tech firms and is slated to be the SaaS hub of the country, but professionals from different parts of India find it difficult to adjust to the local food palate.

Mumbai, the commercial capital, offers the best salaries to mid-level and senior-level professionals after Bengaluru. And despite offering the best salaries after Bengaluru, tech professionals prefer Delhi the least due to pollution and safety concerns.

"Tech talent today is looking for more than just a job, they want a good work-life balance, an improved quality of life, access to good infrastructure and amenities. So the city of work plays a crucial role in deciding on the acceptance of job offers, and we are seeing a strong trend towards techies saying they would trade in a salary hike for a city of their choice," said Gaurav Chattur, managing director (Asia-Pacific) of Catenon.

The revenue of the IT and business service industry increased by 15.5% and crossed ~$227 billion in revenue in 2022, and is estimated to reach $350 billion by 2026. The IT industry alone added around half a million new jobs in FY22, the highest addition in a single year. Exports from the Indian IT industry were estimated at $149 billion in FY21. By 2025, India's overall digital sector is estimated to cross $1 trillion in value.

India's tech sector witnessed 74% growth in hiring from September 2021 to February 2022 as compared to the same period last year. With the US dollar at approx. Rs. 80, Indian tech companies have been gainers as the US contributes more than half their revenue. This also makes a stronger case for global MNCs to have their GCCs in India.

The US continues to be the biggest importer of Indian tech services, absorbing over 62% of Indian tech and BPM exports. UK ranks a distant second with most BFSI giants having their GCC, GIC, shared services, and GBS based in India, There is a growing demand in APAC, Latin America, and Middle East Asia to set up and expand their shared services operations in India, which continues to be the country of choice for these companies given the dual advantage of talent availability and cost arbitrage.

"The exit of tech giants from Russia and disruptions in the operations of their delivery centres in Ukraine has led to more than 100,000 jobs moving out of these two regions. A large percentage of these jobs are expected to be moved to India," said Chattur.

Technology companies in India have been embracing a mix of hybrid, back-to-office, and fully remote work models. Most companies are asking employees to come in to the workplace twice or thrice a week and allow them to work remotely for the other days. In this context, companies of all sizes must look at a mix of factors like availability of talent pool, demand intensity, city preference index and prevalent work models to decide on the ideal city to set up operations.

Tier 2 cities like Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, and Coimbatore are also becoming more popular among tech talent. Government-led initiatives, improved quality of life, increasing GCoE footprint and growing talent availability are the key factors people are preferring these cities, said Chattur.

The report is based on insights collected from a survey of 1200+ tech professionals, and analysed more than 15,000 tech professionals’ profiles on major platforms (LinkedIn, Indeed, and Naukri.com)