WHITEFIELD WAS originally a small calm village that housed Anglo-Indians and retirement colonies for a long time till mid 1980’s. During late 1980’s new industrial and technological developments emerged as more and more companies set up industrial units, research & development centers and information technology companies.
Whitefield in the past was a picturesque locality and a good place for residents, retirees and Anglo Indian settlements. In the olden days this was a distant suburb away from the hustle and bustle of the city center. Living in Whitefield was almost as good as living in a small town and most residents used to live in large villas, individual gated houses with a plenty of greenery and serene surroundings. Even today Whitefield retains all its old charms and beauty despite some dramatic changes to its surrounding uses and mushrooming commercial activity.
Commercial Growth Story
Commercial developments have kicked off in Whitefield and its vicinity with large floor plates being taken up by IT and ITES companies. For instance MuSigma leased about 1,10,000 SF in Kalyani Platina and Divyashree Technopark with 6,25,000 SF is under construction and may soon see more leasing and commercial activities.
The important point to note here is the way some of the leading commercial hubs around Whitefield such as ITPB and various other technology parks, industrial parks and R& D centers have grown. The growth here is not confined to IT and BPO but a little diverse due to the emergence of manufacturing and technology (non-IT) units that have come up over the years.
As development takes place in a big way in any locality there will be a spill over effect in other industries, business and sectors too. Commercial developments have lead to more shopping, entertainment centers, emergence of outlets and servicing points, etc. Though the working class was not keen on settling down in Whitefield, the scene has changed with a number of players launching villas, apartments and various other developments in Whitefield. A select number of residential projects is shown in the table below.
The price of residential apartments starts around Rs.2400 per SF and goes up depending on the level of amenities, furnishing and other improvements in the property.
One of the Best Retail Catchments
The population in Bangalore is always adding up due to the increasing number of workers and professionals migrating from other states, towns and cities, a majority of which is in IT or software sector. Today there are other sectors that attract talent too, but the large numbers come from IT or ITES invariably due to large scale developments in these sectors.
As the population in suburbs like Whitefield grows additional developments such as retail, entertainment, etc are inevitable. So here once can find large shopping malls such as Forum Value Mall, Hyper City Mall and various other retail centers. Similarly a number of branded retail outlets, grocery outlets, apparel outlets, etc are increasing as Whitefield has become one of the leading retail catchments.
Future potential
All said and done, the success of any locality will depend on the basic infrastructure and facilities. Let us give due credit for the planners and conceivers of Whitefield (who probably belong to the British Era).
You can see well laid out roads, well planned localities such as Inner Circle, Outer Circle, etc and also excellent accessibility to Old Madras Road (NH-7) and Old Airport Road (which leads to the former HAL Airport). There is a lot of potential growth when new projects such as Peripheral Ring Road, Metro Phase II (which will go up to ITPL) get materialized. However, even given the current developments Whitefield enjoys good access to the city, the International Airport and has proven to be a self-sufficient suburban location which is a good place to work and live.
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