Hellish road to riches

GRIDLOCK: MORNING RUSH HOUR DEVOURS HALF THE WORK DAY

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RAT RACE. Commuters use an alternate route as construction work continues on the main road near Panathur railway station, in Bengaluru, home to nearly 12 million people.

(AFP)

In India's tech capital Bengaluru, the morning rush hour lasts so long it devours half the workday, throttling productivity in a city often viewed as the poster child of a booming economy.

Entrepreneur RK Misra, co-founder of a multimillion-dollar startup, avoids scheduling in-person meetings until nearly noon - then squeezes them in before gridlock returns.

The “situation is pretty bad. And it hurts by not being able to plan your day”, Misra said, describing his gruelling 16km commute, which can take up to two hours at peak times.

“It also discourages people from doing anything other than work, because there's no work-life balance any more.”

Bengaluru, home to nearly 12 million and state capital of Karnataka, is the “silicon valley” of the world's fifth-biggest economy - hosting thousands of startups, outsourcing firms, and global tech giants from Google to Microsoft.