Bangalore

Bangalore is the capital of the southern state of Karnataka. It is today's Asia's fastest growing cosmopolitan city. It is home to some of the most high= tech industries in India. The IT industry considers Bangalore as the 'byte-basket' of India. Blessed with a pleasant climate, gardens and parks, natural lakes, architectural landmarks, shopping malls, the best restaurants and pubs, business opportunities, Bangalore is indeed an ideal gateway to India and beyond.

Demographics
In 2005 Bangalore had a population of over 6 million, which makes it the 3rd most populous city in India and the 27th largest city in the world by population. The growth of population in 1991-2001 was by 38% making Bangalore the fastest-growing Indian metropolis after New Delhi.

Climate in Bangalore
One of the dream travel destinations in southern India is Bangalore. It is known as the Garden City of India. The climate of Bangalore is moderate and pleasant. Summers are mild (April-June) and winters are cool (October-February). The city experiences southwestern monsoon rains in June-August. Although Bangalore's climate is always pleasant throughout the year, the best time to travel to Bangalore is during winters.

How to visit Bangalore?
Bangalore is well connected to the rest of the country through all modes of transportation.

• Air : The city has its own airport with daily flight load of around 45 flights, for all the major places in India. There are also flights to destinations in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Bangalore's HAL airport is India's fourth busiest and functions as both a domestic and international airport. The city has regular flights for Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Madras, Mumbai, Trivandrum.
  
  
• Rail : The Indian railway offers both express as well ordinary rail service to and from Bangalore. Some of the areas covered are : Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Guwahati, Madras, Mysore, Delhi, Trivandrum.
  
  
• Roads : Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) operates a fleet of 3,207 BMTC public buses, servicing an average of 2,800,000 commuters.

Important Tourist Destinations in Bangalore

The Bangalore Palace & Fort	Lal Bagh	Cubbon Park
Government Museum	ISKCON	The Bull Temple
The Gangadhareshware Temple	The Dharmaraja Temple	Dargah Hazarath Tawakkal Mastan
Jumma Masjid	Ravindra Kalakshetra	St. Mary's Church
The Bangalore Race Course	Gandhi Bhavan etc.

Education in Bangalore

• Home to prestigious colleges and research institutions, the city has the 2nd highest literacy rate in the nation.
• There are a number of private and government schools in Bangalore under ICSE and CBSE and Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board.
• There are colleges for various streams.
• The University of Agricultural Sciences was started here as a vocational school.
• There is also the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering popularly known as UVCE.
• Bangalore is home to several other nationally renowned universities such as the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), National Law School of India University and Bangalore Medical College, Indian Insitute of Science.
• St. John's Medical College and Bangalore Medical College are consistently ranked among the top ten medical schools in India.
• Bangalore's IT industry recruits extensively from the city's large pool of engineering colleges.
• The National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS), is one of the three places in India where Stem cell research is being done.
• International Institute of Information Technology - Bangalore (IIIT-B), is one of the new generation premier Graduate schools in India offering M.Tech. and PhD programs in the field of Information Technology.
• Bangalore has a number of public libraries.

Trade and Economy in Bangalore

• Bangalore's US$ 47.2 billion economy makes it a major economic center in India.
• In 2001 Bangalore's share of US$ 3.7 billion in Foreign Direct Investment was the third highest for an Indian city.
• Bangalore has a strong industrial base.
• Bangalore is called the Silicon Valley of India. This is because of the large number of Information Technology companies are located in the city which contribute 38% of India's US$ 22 billion (Rs. 100,000 crore) IT and software export market.
• Bangalore's IT industry is divided into three main groups: Software Technology Parks of India, Bangalore (STPI), International Technology Park Ltd. (ITPL) and Electronics City.
• Infosys and Wipro, India's 2nd and 3rd largest software companies, are headquartered in Bangalore's Electronics City.
• As a headquarter to 38% of global SEI-CMM Level 5 Companies, Bangalore is well placed in the global IT map.
• Biotechnology is a rapidly expanding field in the city. Biocon, headquartered in Bangalore, is the nation's leading biotechnology company and ranks 16th in the world in revenues.
• The Bangalore Stock Exchange is the largest in South India.
• Some of the Corporates and Institutions in Bangalore
  • Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)
  • National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL)
  • Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)
  • Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML)
  • Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT)
  • Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
  • MICO
  • WIDIA