Traffic snarls on Outer Ring Road (ORR) and Whitefield is tempting tech major Capgemini to seek other locations in the city and even move to Hyderabad or Chennai. The company, which employs 28,000 people in Bengaluru, has six offices in Whitefield and ORR.

A number of companies (like Capgemini) may drop out of ORR and Whitefield and go to North Bengaluru, when their leases expire. “If that doesn’t work, they will go to Pune or Hyderabad or Chennai, where there are traffic problems, but the magnitude is much less,” said Natarajan Radhakrishnan, senior vice president and Bangalore head of Capgemini. With around 4 lakh people employed with IT companies located at Whitefield and ORR, he estimates that traffic alone has cost the industry losses amounting to over Rs. 22,000 crore per annum.

Mr. Radhakrishnan conducted a study on the impact of traffic on productivity and found that the snarls were making businesses unsustainable and resulting in revenue loss.

His findings paint a bleak picture. “Due to a total commute time of 4 to 5 hours, the average time spent by an employee in office is now down to 7 to 7.5 hours/day instead of the expected 9 hours. This has cost 1.5 man hours per employee every day,” the study says.

Traffic expert M.N. Sreehari, who had conducted another study, said the average speed on ORR and Whitefiled had dropped to below 5kmph, which is less than the walking speed of a healthy person.

The lease of all six Capgemini premises will expire in the next 12 to 24 months and the company has decided against renewing them, sources confirmed.

"We have no concrete plans to move out of the city": Capgemini

Responding to the story, Natarajan Radhakrishnan, senior vice president and Bangalore center head said: "We have no concrete plans to move out of the city." The statements were made to highlight the issues faced by the employees due to traffic snarls everyday, he added.