Pune's Information Technology (IT) Industry

Touted as one of the important IT hubs in India, Pune also has the dubious distinction of being one of the highly polluted cities in India. The IT industry is considered as one of the biggest industries of Pune, and as the thesis tries to explore widespread spin-off effects. The IT industry was welcomed with open arms into the city as per the IT policy of the State government of Maharashtra. Many environmentalists have often stated that Pune has grown out of control because of the IT industry. That the various tax concessions and allowances have not been contributing enough, and the massive development that has taken place has affected the city's environment. Pune's IT industry - A Boon or A Bane? - is to explore the realism in this perception. The main objective of the thesis is to map the range of economic and environment effects of the IT industry. Using the OECD Pressure State Response framework, various environment effects are identified and analysed. Where data has not been available, scenarios have been created to project the scale and level of possible effects of the IT industry in the city. In terms of environment the effects of IT industry have been explored two-fold - the industry level and the employee level. The reason to include the latter was to examine the entire gamut of environment effects due to the industry in the context of high migration and high consumption by employees. Various kinds of analysis have been used to process the data that was available, and draw conclusions. In terms of environment effects at the industry level, ewaste and transport congestion come out very strongly compared to electricity consumption. At the employee level, an overview of what the additional pressures on land (housing) and basic services, electricity and transport is created. Viewed within the lens of the effect of an industry, one can summarise that these are high pressures for the city. Economic effects have been expressed through the taxes and revenues that the city receives from the IT industry; and the employment created. These have been classified as direct and indirect effects. From the data gathered and most importantly from the interviews, the economic effects for the city are considered to be high. Unfortunately, the city does not have a way to monitor these effects through a cost and benefit analysis. At some points, the thesis explores these connections such as by calculating carbon dioxide mitigation costs, or the cost to recycle one ton of PC e-waste. The thesis also looks at the implementation of the IT policy in the city. Not all of the clauses are implemented by the city of Pune. This is mostly in terms of the collection of the octroi tax, which the IT policy essentially waives off; and the tax rates for property, which have recently been increased. In terms of effects of some of the clauses, the thesis tries to put into perspective the connection between traffic congestion and the allowance of double FSI for the IT industry. Based on the overall results of the thesis, interviews and the literature review a number of recommendations have been made. Given the nature and scope of the thesis, it was not possible to dwell in deep on each aspect. Also given that wherever data was not available, scenarios have been created which project the possibilities but may not be absolute. In terms of the methodology used to analyse the environment effects, the PSR framework helps scientifically define various indicators and establish a cause and effect relationship. Improvisations can be made on the basic model, and can be used for other kinds of analysis as well. To finally conclude the thesis makes perspicuous the overall effects of an economic policy by mapping the economic and environment effects as a consequence of that activity.