DK Shivakumar looks firm on building more cities as alternatives to Bengaluru

Every state wants a Bengaluru of its own, but Karnataka now wants more than one. With over 100 days in office behind him, Chief Minister DK Shivakumar is pushing a 'Beyond Bengaluru' vision aimed at creating new economic engines that become alternative to Bengaluru.

Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka, has long been the engine of the state's economic success. Every state aspires to have a city like Bengaluru. But the Karnataka government is now looking beyond its capital, seeking to develop more cities that can emerge as alternatives to Bengaluru. As the Congress government led by Chief Minister DK Shivakumar completed 100 days on September 10 (Thursday), it appears focussed on building these alternative cities.

Bengaluru became synonymous with India's technology boom, drawing startups, global companies, engineers and young job-seekers from across the country. But the very success that turned Bengaluru into Karnataka's economic powerhouse has also made it increasingly difficult to sustain.

Traffic, expensive housing, pressure on infrastructure and an ever-growing population have turned the question of Bengaluru's future into a political and economic challenge. And as Deputy Chief Minister, Bengaluru development minister and now Chief Minister, DK Shivakumar (DKS), has had a ringside view of that challenge, and it seems like he firmly believes that Karnataka cannot keep adding pressure to Bengaluru and expect the city alone to carry the state's next phase of growth.

The answer of the 64-year-old DKS is not to move away from Bengaluru, but to build more cities in the state that are capable of carrying part of its economic weight.

In an op-ed published in The Hindu newspaper on September 11 (Thursday), DKS wrote in his Op-ed, "A state's development story cannot be the story of its capital alone."

He acknowledged that Bengaluru would remain the "crown of Karnataka". But, he said, the state needs several economic centres that can generate jobs, investments and opportunities in their own right.

The idea is essentially an expansion of Karnataka's "Beyond Bengaluru" strategy. The plan is to move technology, manufacturing and knowledge-driven industries into cities like Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubballi-Dharwad-Belagavi, Tumakuru, Kalaburagi and Shivamogga.

The timing is significant. The 100-day milestone marks the point when the initial political goodwill is seemingly beginning to meet the harder test of delivery. For DKS, that test is particularly complicated because Bengaluru is simultaneously the state's biggest economic asset and one of its biggest governance challenges.

BENGALURU'S BURDEN: THE CITY THAT CANNOT CARRY EVERYTHING

DKS acknowledged Bengaluru's estimated population of around 12.5 million and more than 11.5 million vehicles to underline the scale of the problem.

The pressure on the city is visible every day. It is visible on roads, housing, public transport and civic infrastructure. The city continues to attract people because economic opportunity remains concentrated here, creating a cycle in which more jobs bring more people, which in turn puts greater pressure on the city's infrastructure.

That is why the argument of the 64-year-old Karnataka CM, who is hailed as the troubleshooter of the Congress party, goes beyond simply building another IT park outside Bengaluru.

If a technology worker from Mysuru can find a job in Mysuru, there is less reason to move to Bengaluru. If a global capability centre comes up in Mangaluru, a young professional from coastal Karnataka does not necessarily have to leave the region. If advanced manufacturing expands around Hubballi-Dharwad-Belagavi, North Karnataka's workforce can find opportunities closer to home.

This is the logic behind the "Beyond Bengaluru" initiative. It also explains why DKS has simultaneously spoken about massive investments in Bengaluru itself. The government says around Rs 1.5 lakh crore is being spent on the city's development, while plans include expanding metro connectivity, tunnel roads, double-decker flyovers and the Bengaluru Business Corridor.

The message is therefore not that Bengaluru is being abandoned. It is that Bengaluru's problems cannot be solved by Bengaluru alone.

HOW DKS GOVT PLANS TO BUILD ECONOMIC HUBS BEYOND BENGALURU

The Karnataka Digital Economy Mission's (KDEM) Beyond Bengaluru initiative has already identified clusters based on the economic strengths of different regions.

Mysuru (140 km from Bengaluru) is perhaps the most prominent example. The government wants to develop it as Karnataka's second major IT city, building on its education, tourism and technology ecosystem. The state has set an ambitious target of generating $10 billion in digital revenues from Mysuru by 2030 and creating at least 1,50,000 jobs.

The coastal belt, particularly Mangaluru and Udupi (around 350 km from Karnataka's capital), offers a different proposition. With ports, maritime connectivity, education, healthcare, banking, fisheries and tourism already providing an economic base, the focus is increasingly on connecting these sectors with technology, data centres and the digital economy.

The Hubballi-Dharwad-Belagavi (northwestern Karnataka region) cluster is being positioned around engineering, manufacturing, artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductor-related capabilities, aerospace and defence, drones, electric vehicles (EVs) and advanced technology. KDEM data indicates a substantial startup ecosystem in the cluster, providing a base on which the government hopes to build.

Tumakuru and Doddaballapura (southern-central region of the state), meanwhile, are being developed as industrial nodes, while Kalaburagi and the wider Kalyana Karnataka region are being targeted for technology and industrial investments in a region that has historically lagged behind Karnataka's more prosperous areas.

Five Global Technology Centres have also been proposed in Kalaburagi, Belagavi, Hubballi-Dharwad, Mangaluru and Mysuru.

GOVT'S DIRECTION LOOKS RIGHT, BUT THE TASK IS NOT EASY

There are signs that the strategy of building alternative cities is gaining some traction, although the scale remains far below what is required to materially reduce Bengaluru's dominance.

In June 2026, 55 industrial projects worth Rs 7,506 crore were approved, with the potential to create more than 28,000 jobs. Of these, 41 were planned outside Bengaluru Urban and Bengaluru Rural districts.

In August, another 83 projects worth around Rs 6,253 crore were approved, with 69 located outside Bengaluru and the potential to create more than 30,000 jobs.

These are approved projects and projected employment numbers, not completed investments. That distinction will matter increasingly as the DKS government moves beyond its first 100 days.

The earlier record also shows why expectations need to be tempered. Between 2021-22 and 2024-25, the Beyond Bengaluru initiative generated nearly 5,600 jobs across the Hubballi-Dharwad, Mangaluru and Mysuru clusters. Of the 126 companies that began operations in these clusters, 51 entered during 2024-25, contributing around 1,500 jobs.

The direction is visible. The scale, however, still has a long way to go.

The Karnataka government has an ambitious plan: thousands of crores in investments, hundreds of thousands of jobs, new technology centres and multiple emerging cities. But the success of the model will be measured by whether a young person in Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubballi, Belagavi or Kalaburagi begins to see Bengaluru as an option rather than a necessity.

That is a much harder target to achieve. Bengaluru is unlikely to lose its position as Karnataka's economic crown anytime soon. DKS himself is not suggesting otherwise. His argument is that a crown becomes stronger when its brilliance is not concentrated at a single point.

After the first 100 days, the honeymoon period might be ending. For the "many economic engines" vision of DKS, the more difficult phase would be turning Bengaluru's success into a model that the rest of Karnataka can replicate without having to become Bengaluru itself.

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