Uttar Pradesh has not exactly been a hot destination for information technology and information technology enabled service companies, Noida on the capital's outskirts being the sole exception.
Yet the state has all the right ingredients for success -- a large English speaking population, well trained professionals and cities with large populations and a professional outlook.
The Lucknow-Kanpur region is perhaps the best endowed region in terms of educated manpower and technical institutions. But strangely even this area has not been able to attract IT companies.
So why are IT companies averse to investing in this state?
An answer may be found in the case of Dell Inc, which sought to set up a call centre at Lucknow in UP.
After about six months of investigations, discussions with the state government and survey of the manpower and of the facilities available and whether government support would be forthcoming, Dell decided to establish its third centre in India at Mohali near Chandigarh in Punjab rather than at Lucknow, a place it had rated better in terms of several factors.
Dell, with a turnover of $35.404 billion this year, is the world's largest direct-sale computer vendor. It sells its computers not through dealers or distributors but only through the web.
It also provides after-sales service through the web. Buyers place orders on the web and cite their specific requirement; the company then supplies them with custom made computers.
This necessarily requires call centres and back office operations. Some time ago, Dell outsourced these services from India.
But in due course it decided to establish its own support centres in India. It chose Bangalore to establish its first centre.
The Bangalore experience proved rewarding for Dell: it had government support and costs were lower.
Ten months back it decided to establish another centre in India, this time at Hyderabad. Here too, Dell got government backing.
Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu, say industry insiders, had established a personal rapport with a director of the company in the US and he convinced Dell to come to Hyderabad.
Encouraged by the result, Dell decided to establish a couple of centres in the country. This time, it decided to locate a centre in north India.
Three locations were short listed. These were Jaipur, Lucknow and Mohali. Jaipur was in the reckoning because General Electric had decided to shift its call centre to Jaipur, from Gurgaon. The Rajashtan government promised it all kinds of support.
Dell looked at Lucknow because a very large number of call centre workers come from this area.
They have a neutral accent and are sincere and hard working. Mohali too had its advantages: it's not far from Delhi, and Punjab has been aggressive in attracting IT and ITES companies.
Dell tested all the three places and ruled out Jaipur on the ground of poorer manpower availability. The race was reduced to Lucknow and Mohali.
Dell talked to officials, entrepreneurs and IT circles in Lucknow. The UP government was noncommittal in its support. It never said no and continued to give assurances in a roundabout way.
Moreover, in their three visits to UP, Dell executives met three different IT secretaries; this did not happen elsewhere. In Andhra, for instance, the IT secretary has been in his current position for six years.
The outcome is plain to see. Says an IT industry entrepreneur: "Hyderabad is top of the mind of all those who wish to come to establish IT companies."
Meanwhile, Punjab offered incentives to Dell -- land at a premium place, which it allotted immediately at a reasonable price, telecom support and an agreement on continuous investment to train the people needed for the call centre.
So Dell picked Mohali over Lucknow, only because of categorical government support.
We talked to three secretaries to the UP government who were involved in the discussions with Dell. Rakesh Bahadur , the current IT secretary, said that he was not aware whether the Dell had decided on Mohali.
He said that he had had discussions with Dell's representatives some time back and that his gut feeling was that the discussions are still on, although he could not pinpoint where and with whom they are still proceeding.
His immediate predecessor, A Bishnoi, expressed surprise that Dell had jettisoned Lucknow for Mohali.
"Till I was there the discussions were on and they looked highly favourable. But I do not know what the present position is," he added.
Bishnoi's immediate predecessor, G B Patnaik, said: "I do not think that Dell will not come to Lucknow."
But when told that Dell had plumped for Mohali, he said that he'd held discussions with them just a few days back. But on being pressed, he conceded that the Punjab government went to Dell.
"In our case, Dell came to us." Patanik, though, is still hopeful that Dell will opt for Lucknow, wherever else it might go.
Another UP government official says it does not matter if Dell is not coming, others have evinced interest in establishing a presence in the state.
If this story has a moral, it is this. UP's bureaucracy, which refuses to take any decisions, and short sighted politicians, who are unable to see anything that does not provide them with immediate benefit, are primarily responsible for the state's failure to attract IT companies.
