Bengaluru emerges as country's 'talent positive' location amidst job reservation bill fiasco

Amid the row over Karnataka's job reservation bill, Bengaluru has emerged as the only "talent positive" location across the country in the past 12 months, according to specialist staffing company Xpheno. Bengaluru absorbed 1,23,000 talents in the past 12 months while more than 80,000 skilled professionals moved out of India's Silicon City in the same period. Whereas Hyderabad absorbed 14,000 such individuals from Bengaluru in the same period.

Of the 1,23,000 white-collar professionals that shifted to Bengaluru for employment, 50,850 professionals were from India's six major cities (Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, and Pune). Bengaluru absorbed 19,000 white-collar professionals from Hyderabad alone in the past 12 months.

On the other hand, the Telangana's capital absorbed 24,900 professionals, including 4,000 from Mumbai in the past year.

As per the data, New Delhi is losing most of its talent to Bengaluru and Mumbai. On average 3,800 working professionals from Delhi moved to Bengaluru for jobs and 3,600 individuals moved to Mumbai in the past 12 months. Cumulatively, Karnataka has absorbed 10,000 professionals from the national capital in the same period. Karnataka also hired white-collar professionals from Tamil Nadu (29,000), Maharashtra (28,000), Telangana (23,000), Kerala (15,000), Andhra Pradesh (13,000), Uttar Pradesh (10,000), respectively since July 2023.

On the contrary, Karnataka has lost 18,500 working professionals to Maharashtra, 16,000 to Telangana, and 12,500 to Tamil Nadu in the past one year.

"Bangalore city and Karnataka as a whole are both talent-positive locations across the talent exchange corridors. This has been a key enabling factor for both local and inbound foreign enterprises to flourish in this Geography. The city and state have managed to make up for talent lost, by having a higher volume of talent coming in. Any change in this desirability and ability of the city and state to attract and retain talent, will have a long-term impact on the scale and quality of talent they can offer to key sectors," Anil Ethanur, Co-founder, Xpheno (a specialist staffing company).

Earlier this month, the Congress-led Karnataka government received a barrage of criticism after it tabled a domicile quota in jobs Bill in the Legislative Assembly. Following the backlash by IT professionals, opposition, and CXOs, the state cabinet put the contentious bill on hold. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led government had mandated 75% reservation in non-management jobs, and 50% reservation in management jobs for the "locals".

Talent platform TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship CEO AR Ramesh said that the Karnataka government should emphasize the need for skill development to address the gap between available opportunities and the requisite skills for employability. "By prioritizing skill development and hands-on experience, Karnataka can strategically drive economic growth and create plentiful job opportunities for its talent pool," Ramesh added.