June 13, 2007

Why Mysore?

Because it has a million residents with nothing much to do.Other than Infosys training centre a few small software companies there is nothing in the city. Its educated population need to go out of town to work.

Commute time for those locally employed is rarely more than 10 minutes.

Low cost of living.

Office space in Mysore is five times cheaper than in Mumbai; 43 times less expensive than Manhattan.

These are said to be the reasons for a US legal process outsourcing firm – Smith Dornan Dehn (SDD) Global Solutions – to set up shop in Mysore. But then the same factors apply to hundreds of other town. The company chairman Russell Smith is quoted in The Economic Times as saying his familiarity with Mysore had to do with yoga training.

Mr Smith, who learned yoga from Pattabhi Jois, said he decided to set up his LPO company after three yoga-learning visits to Mysore.The Mysore office located at Saraswathipuram handles legal work relating to leading entertainment companies in the US. The clients include Sony, HBO, a couple of British TV companies, the Clinton Foundation; and the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute. The yoga institute is founded by Pattabhi Jois, whose yoga students include several celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Sting, Madonna, William Dafoe, Donna Karan. SDD is a Manhattan-based law firm.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Don't believe everything you read in the paper! The Economic Times quote was not exactly accurate. Of course there is much more in Mysore, and more to do, than work for Infosys or other software companies. In fact, I was attracted to Mysore, made two long trips to Mysore, years before I ever thought of setting up a business here. Also, the current address for our web site is www.sddglobal.com . Thanks for the post. --Russell Smith, SDD Global Solutions