Bengaluru: Will the city now be called ‘TecHalli’ instead of ‘silicon valley of India’?

Bengaluru has been known as ‘Silicon Valley of India’ for a long time and now a new name has been coined for the city. Business tycoon Anand Mahindra and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani have chosen a new name for Bengaluru city. The selected name- TechHalli is expected to resonate better with locals. In Kannada, Halli means village and the name literally translates to tech village.

It is to note that Anand Mahindra had asked Twitterati to suggest a name that can be used as the new moniker for Bengaluru instead of ‘Silicon Valley of India’. On Saturday, Mahindra took to Twitter and said that Nilekani has agreed to be the co-judge of four short-listed entries. They both decided that one entry- TecHalli can be used which was submitted by Srinivas P Reddy on Twitter. The other three options shortlisted were TechPattana, IndTechGram, and IndTechTown.

According to a report by The IE, both judges feel that ‘TecHalli’ is the perfect name that can be used for Bengaluru. While giving the task to people on social media, Mahindra had specifically mentioned that the entry should cleverly include the letter ‘H’ in Tech to double use. The winner has been promised a scale replica of the Pininfarina H2 Speed car by Mahindra.

While some celebrated the new moniker for Bengaluru, there were others who showed concerns about TecHalli. A netizen said that Silicon Valley is a metaphor and Bengaluru being called TecHalli of India may not be understood by people internationally until and unless they know the meaning of this Kannada word. To this, Mahindra replied that it is time that people outside India try to make an attempt in understanding the meaning of the word. He added that there are many people who do not speak English and initially they could not understand the meaning of Silicon valley as well.

Meanwhile, the move is welcomed by many. To be sure, Bengaluru is home to many techies and start-ups. Citing Arun Javgal, a worker at an IT firm, the IE report said that people in the city connect more to the name TecHalli than Silicon Valley of India.