Mysuru: Palace to Pixels
A comic about how a royal city of silk, sandalwood and Dasara is turning into Karnataka's "second IT city". A fresh Mysuru graduate asks, and an old-timer who has seen it all answers: what the kings built, what the expressway changed, and where Mysuru goes next.
curious young learner, wants a job without leaving Mysuru
wise mentor and Mysuru old-timer
THE PASTThe kingdom that was ahead of its time
The kings who built a model state
ZappyMysuru is just palaces and Dasara, no? Bengaluru got all the tech.
Prof. BoltArre! A hundred years ago, this kingdom was the most modern place in India. Bengaluru got its electricity from our power station.
Mysuru's firsts Under the Wadiyars and Dewan Sir M. Visvesvaraya:
- 1902: Shivanasamudra hydro-power station, one of Asia's first.
- 1912–16: Silk factory, Bank of Mysore, Sandal Soap factory and the University of Mysore.
- 1930s: KRS dam on the Kaveri, which still waters the region.
Mysuru's kings planned ahead: power, water, banks and colleges first. Industry followed. Same recipe works today.
Pensioners' paradise
After Independence The capital moved to Bengaluru. Mysuru slowed down, and liked it.
Wide roads, clean air, cheap houses, good schools. Retired officers, professors and army men settled here. Food scientists came to CFTRI. Factories grew in Hebbal, Hootagalli and Nanjangud.
Prof. BoltLife was slow. Silk, sandalwood, incense sticks, Dasara once a year. Our children studied here, then took the bus to Bengaluru for jobs. That was the Mysuru story for 50 years.
The talent was born here but earned elsewhere. Mysuru exported its children.
The giant training campus
Early 2000s Infosys builds a huge training campus on the edge of Mysuru.
CLASS IN SESSION!Lakhs of freshers from all over India learned to code here over the years, then left for Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad.
ZappySo Mysuru was the school, and Bengaluru was the office.
Prof. BoltExactly. Small IT firms came too, but the big money never stayed. Mysuru was a training ground, not a headquarters.
THE PRESENTThe expressway changed everything
3 hours became 90 minutes
March 2023 The 10-lane Bengaluru–Mysuru Expressway opens. About 118 km.
Who won
- Land along the Mysore Road belt (Bidadi, Ramanagara, Mandya) jumped.
- Bengaluru families bought second homes and retirement flats here.
- MUDA raised guidance values 6–10% in Vijayanagar, Kuvempunagar and Gokulam in early 2026.
Who lost
Highway eateries in Maddur and Channapatna that lived on slow traffic. And hotels: tourists now see the palace and drive back the same evening.
A fast road works both ways. It can bring jobs to Mysuru, or take Mysuru's people to Bengaluru every day.
Mysuru's tech scene today
- 30,000+ IT professionals.
- ~100 IT companies.
- Close to ₹4,000 crore of IT exports a year.
Plus electronics, engineering and two-wheeler plants on the industrial side.
Software exports (rough, per year)
Mysuru is the biggest tech cluster outside Bengaluru, yet still about 1% of the state's software exports.
Prof. BoltSmall number, big room to grow. The 2026–27 state budget officially named Mysuru Karnataka's "second IT city".
Palace, zoo and Dasara crowds
About 35–40 lakh of them go to the palace and the zoo. During Dasara the city overflows.
Cleanest city, then not
More people, more tourists, same old garbage system.
Tourism is Mysuru's oldest income, but most of it is day trips. Night stays, food and shopping are where the real money is.
The airport that waits
Runway: 1,740 m Only small 72-seat ATR planes can land.
Down 3.3% from the year before. Bengaluru airport handles that in a few hours.
The plan
Land acquisition finished in early 2026. Then A320 and Boeing 737 jets can land, and direct flights to metros become possible.
ZappyWhy does a foreign company care about our runway?
Prof. BoltBecause the boss flying in from Frankfurt won't take a 3-hour cab from Bengaluru airport every visit. No jets, no big offices.
Growing pains
When a quiet city gets busy
Old Mysuru is the charm. New Mysuru is the money. The city has to protect one while building the other.
THE FUTUREThe state's plan, and Prof. Bolt's guesses
The "second IT city" plan
Target
Vision set by KDEM, the state's Beyond Bengaluru mission. Focus: IT, GCCs, electronics design and manufacturing, startups.
Sweets for companies outside Bengaluru
- 100% electricity duty refunded for 5 years.
- 30% property tax refunded for 3 years.
- Higher patent and certification refunds than in Bengaluru.
- A "Global Innovation District" tech park planned for Mysuru.
- A regional campus of the state's new AI University.
Prof. BoltOffice rent here is a fraction of Bengaluru. Staff don't sit 2 hours in traffic. Attrition is lower because people want to stay home. That's the real pitch.
Bedroom or boardroom?
Bedroom town: people live in Mysuru, work in Bengaluru, spend in Bengaluru. Property goes up, local jobs don't.
Boardroom town: companies open real offices here. Salaries are spent here, in local shops, hospitals and schools.
Watch one number: how many people work in Mysuru, not just live here. That decides which Mysuru we get.
THE DEEP DIVEThe research behind the headlines
The 1902 blueprint, in numbers
Shivanasamudra, the project that powered a kingdom
- 1899: Dewan K. Seshadri Iyer approves the plan after an engineer sees Niagara Falls power.
- ~19 months: erection finished by March 1902, a speed historians say would be hard to match today.
- 30 June 1902: power reaches Kolar Gold Fields, about 150 km away.
- 1905: power and street lights reach Bengaluru.
What cheap power built
Also: University of Mysore (1916), the first university in Karnataka; Bank of Mysore; Sandal Soap.
Prof. BoltThe secret wasn't money. It was order: power first, then water, then colleges, then industry. Mysore was called one of the best-administered states anywhere. Today's "second IT city" plan is trying the same recipe in a different order.
Mysuru vs other tier-2 tech cities
| Measure | Mysuru | Mangaluru | Kochi (Infopark) |
|---|---|---|---|
| IT professionals | 30,000+ (2026) | — | ~72,000 (2025) |
| IT exports a year | ~₹4,000 cr | ~₹3,500 cr | — |
| Big advantage | Bengaluru in 90 min, heritage, lower costs | Port, airport, engineering colleges | One giant planned IT park, airport |
| Big weakness | Small airport, water | Smaller talent pool | Distance from the biggest client hubs |
"—" means no comparable figure found. Mysuru and Mangaluru exports from Karnataka's IT minister (Oct 2026); Kochi from Infopark.
The tier-2 wave is real, but small
Share of India's GCCs located in tier-2 cities, 2019 to 2025 (InCommon). That's 170+ centres across 18 smaller cities.
Karnataka's lopsided map
In 2020, Bengaluru alone made about 95% of the state's IT exports. Every other city together: 5%.
Mysuru doesn't need to beat Bengaluru. It needs to beat Kochi and Coimbatore for the next mid-size office.
The cost maths: why a company would move
Bengaluru's prime office rent (Knight Frank)
Q2 2026, up 10.7% in a year, the fastest growth in Asia-Pacific.
Homes: price per sq ft (rough market averages)
Mysuru homes cost roughly half; prices rising about 7.5% a year.
The government sweeteners
- 100% electricity duty refunded for 5 years.
- 30% property tax refunded for 3 years.
- Up to 80% (₹8 lakh) certification costs refunded, vs 50% in Bengaluru.
ZappySo why isn't everyone moving already?
Prof. BoltBecause companies follow talent, not rent. Bengaluru has lakhs of experienced engineers; Mysuru has thousands. Cheaper rent saves maybe a tenth of an office's cost. Salaries are most of it. Mysuru wins when people want to move here, and many do.
Water: the hidden ceiling
Supply vs need (million litres a day)
Most city water comes from the KRS dam on the Kaveri; about 60 MLD from the Kabini.
Leaks and losses
"Non-revenue water" in an AMRUT city factsheet: water pumped but never billed, lost to leaks, theft and broken meters.
2026 so far
- May: KRS at 81.8 ft against a 124.8 ft maximum.
- Aug: Kabini supply to about 22 layouts suspended for nearly two months; outskirts on tankers.
- The ₹595-crore Hale Unduwadi project, meant to add up to 300 MLD, is delayed.
Bengaluru ran dry in 2024. Mysuru draws from the same river. A "second IT city" with tanker-fed outskirts is a plan with a crack in it. Fixing leaks is the cheapest new water there is.
Dasara economics
Dasara 2024, a record year
About ₹500 crore of business for hotels, transport, shops and food.
Hotel occupancy (Mysore Hotel Owners' Association)
Dasara 2026
Mysuru Palace: 1.10 lakh visitors in the season. Zoo: 1.57 lakh visitors and ₹1.93 crore of gate revenue, both almost flat on 2025.
Prof. BoltMysuru's tourism has a "ten good days, many empty nights" problem. The plan to make the Dasara exhibition grounds a year-round heritage hub is the right idea. Tourism that's spread out builds steady jobs; tourism that spikes once a year builds traffic jams.
Mysuru 2035: three endings
The good ending. Jets land, GCCs open mid-size centres, the AI campus feeds talent. Mysuru becomes what Pune is to Mumbai: its own city, not a suburb. Heritage core protected, tourism stays overnight.
The likely ending. Steady IT growth, lots of remote and hybrid workers, property up strongly on the Bengaluru side of town. Mysuru gets busier but keeps some of its calm.
The bad ending. Airport delays drag on, AI shrinks IT hiring, Mysuru becomes a weekend-and-retirement town. Land prices run ahead of jobs, and the traffic arrives without the salaries.
Prof. BoltThese are my guesses, not forecasts. But Mysuru has one thing Bengaluru lost: people actually want to live here. If we don't spoil that, the jobs will come to us.
So what should Zappy do?
Mysuru's other engines Not everything is IT.
- Healthcare: patients come from Kodagu, Chamarajanagar, Mandya and across the Kerala and Tamil Nadu borders.
- Education: university, medical and engineering colleges.
- Tourism: heritage, wellness, yoga, food.
- Food and manufacturing: CFTRI, electronics, auto parts.
ZappyShould I just go to Bengaluru like everyone else?
Prof. BoltLearn the skills Bengaluru pays for: AI, data, design. Then look for remote, hybrid or GCC jobs here. Bengaluru salary, Mysuru rent. That's the jackpot.
Buying land? Check the khata and approvals carefully. Plots near the city edges are being sold on "IT city" hype long before the IT jobs arrive.
Fridge-door cheat sheet
Past
- Wadiyars built power, dams, banks and colleges first.
- Then: pensioners' paradise, silk, sandal, Dasara.
- Infosys trained India's coders here, but jobs went elsewhere.
Present
- Expressway: Bengaluru in ~90 min. Land prices up.
- 30,000+ IT staff, ~₹4,000 crore exports.
- ~50 lakh tourists a year, mostly day trips.
- Airport still only for small planes.
Deep dive
- Shivanasamudra built in ~19 months; power first, industry later.
- Mysuru ~₹4,000 cr IT exports; Kochi Infopark ~72,000 staff.
- Homes ~half Bengaluru's price; talent, not rent, decides moves.
- Water: ~240 MLD supplied vs 494 MLD needed; 66% lost in one study.
- Dasara: 16 lakh visitors, ₹500 cr, but weekday hotels 30–50% full.
Future
- Officially Karnataka's "second IT city".
- $10 bn digital economy target by 2030.
- Runway expansion is the key unlock.
- Bedroom or boardroom: watch local jobs, not land prices.
Zappy and Prof. Bolt are made-up characters; the city, history and plans are real. Figures are rounded from public reports (Karnataka Budget 2026–27, KDEM, Airports Authority of India, Mysuru City Corporation, Karnataka GCC Policy, news reports) and may change. The "three endings" are opinion, not forecasts. For learning, not investment advice. Deep dive: Wikipedia/Citizen Matters/Accountability India (Shivanasamudra history), YourStory (Mysuru and Mangaluru IT exports), Infopark Kochi, InCommon GCC Tier 2 Report 2025, Deccan Herald (2020 IT export split; water supply; hotel occupancy), Knight Frank via Construction World (Bengaluru rents), TogetherBuying (home price averages, rough), Karnataka GCC policy (incentives), MysuruInfraHub (MUDA demand estimate), AMRUT city factsheet (non-revenue water), NewsKarnataka (2026 water crisis; Dasara 2026), Udayavani (Dasara 2024).