Bengaluru

Bengaluru is the capital and largest city of Karnataka in southern India, and the country’s largest information technology hub. Kempe Gowda I founded the modern city in 1537 by building a mud brick fort, and the earliest known reference to the name is an inscription of 890 CE at Begur. It is known as India’s Garden City.

The city covers about 741 square kilometres and had 8,443,675 residents at the 2011 census, the third largest in India. It sits about 900 metres above sea level. The Greater Bengaluru Authority, set up in May 2025, replaced the BBMP as the civic body and covers about 1,400 square kilometres. The wider metropolitan region covers 7,005 square kilometres across three districts.

Besides information technology, its economy includes biotechnology, with more than 40 biotech companies, and manufacturing in aerospace, automobiles, textiles, heavy machinery and electronics. BEML and Bharat Electronics, both state owned, are headquartered in the city.

Sources: Wikipedia, Bangalore, citing the Census of India 2011.