IT works: The buck stops in Chandigarh

CHANDIGARH: Search for blackjack, roulette, casino or gambling on the Net and the sites that pop up first are likely examples of ''back-office'' work done in Chandigarh.
As business — including software development, Web development and search engine marketing — is being offshored to Chandigarh from US and Europe, young creative entrepreneurs of the city are laughing their way to the bank.Rough estimates suggest that business worth half a million dollars is transacted in the city each month.
Anuja Gupta, director Pugmarks, says, "Sky is the limit if you are creative."
Her husband Atul says, "Gone are the days when work was outsourced to India because of low cost. It is the creativity of Indians that is luring foreign clients now."
With the US banning paid advertisements by casinos or online gambling sites on search engines, the only option left for these companies is to somehow rank high on search engines. This is exactly what we are doing for them," says Atul. Ever since the ban came into force, companies have diverted their advertising budgets for promotion of their sites through non-paid channels, that is, having a high ranking on search engines.
A challenging job taken up by the Guptas is development of an e-commerce sight for Zimmerman Signs, one of the largest companies dealing in signboards. "We created software that allows an applicant to set up a member area, drag and design his glow signs according to his needs and later preview them to his satisfaction," says Anuja.
Balwinder and Rupa (not their real names), an architect couple from Panchkula, are busy designing an office for a client in Los Angeles.
They haven''t met or seen their client but they picked up the project from the Web.
Of course, doing business from Chandigarh has its share of problems.
Atul says the migration of creative people from the city has restricted Chandigarh''s growth. "There are about 12 companies in the city working for foreign clients but there is scope for many more," he says.
Vivek Atray, director IT Chandigarh, says Chandigarh is being promoted as a BPO destination at various events. He says the Administration has hired Hewitt, one of the largest HRD consultancies, to solve ''brain drain'' issues. He adds the Administration has also introduced C-TOSS (training in software skills), in eight institutions in the city.