Southern charms

With rapid growth in technology, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and biosciences, Bangalore has become a major destination for Delhi and Mumbai law firms, writes George W Russell in Bangalore

From Garden City to Pensioners’ Paradise and Outsourcing Capital to India’s Silicon Valley, Bangalore has earned a number of sobriquets over the years. But the recent onrush of law firms to India’s fifth largest metropolis suggests a new title for the Karnataka state capital: Legal Hub of the South.

With its temperate climate, an educated and relatively cosmopolitan population of more than seven million, and a host of multinational corporations, Bangalore – perched 1,000 metres up on the Deccan Plateau – has long drawn migrants from all over India in search of better jobs and a higher quality of life.

Economic immigrants from Nepal and western China and students from Iran and Nigeria add to the city’s diversity, while multinational corporations have brought in about 10,000 employees and families, creating one of the largest expatriate communities in South Asia. “Bangalore is no longer a part of Karnataka or India, it is today a global city,” says Sajai Singh, who heads the Bangalore practice of Delhi-based J Sagar Associates.