Bengaluru has the biggest talent pool in Asia, says CM Shivakumar

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Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar in conversation with Narayan Lakshman, The Hindu’s Opinion Editor and curator of The Huddle, during The Hindu Huddle, in Bengaluru on June 5, 2026. | Photo Credit: K. Murali Kumar

Bengaluru has the biggest talent pool in Asia and the world sees India through Bengaluru, said Karnataka Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar, inaugurating the sixth edition of The Hindu Huddle in Bengaluru on Friday (June 5, 2026).

“While California has 13 lakh IT professionals, Bengaluru has 26 lakh IT professionals. Karnataka produces 13,940 doctors, over a lakh engineers, and 1.2 lakh nurses every year. We export the best of the talent to the rest of the world. A few months ago when I was in Davos, everyone said they find the best talent pool in India only in Bengaluru,” he said during the session ‘Government of the People: Karnataka’s tryst with equitable growth’.

Indicating that this did not happen overnight, Mr. Shivakumar said even during the times of Jawaharlal Nehru, key Public Sector Units (PSUs) such as the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT), and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) apart from Indian Institute of Management (IIM) were started in Bengaluru.

Many students from various States study in Bengaluru because it was the “safest city”, he added.

The Chief Minister said he starts his day with a coffee and The Hindu.

“It [The Hindu] is a group with a long history and heritage. The Hindu has not budged an inch despite political and government pressures. Your pen is very straight. That pen has been providing direction to the entire country and all sections of the society,” he said.

Mr. Shivakumar said he was happy to start his outreach as a new Chief Minister with The Hindu Group. “This is the first event I have inaugurated as the chief minister,” he said, adding The Huddle had brought the best minds to Bengaluru.

“Joining together is the beginning, discussion and deliberation