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BlackBuck, a digital platform for truck operators, announced on Tuesday, September 16, that it is vacating its office on Bengaluru’s Outer Ring Road (ORR) in Bellandur, citing poor infrastructure and long commute times for employees.
“ORR (Bellandur) has been our ‘office + home’ for nine years, but it was getting very hard to continue. We have decided to move out,” co-founder and CEO Rajesh Yabaji posted on X. He added that the average one-way commute for employees had stretched to over 1.5 hours. “Roads are full of potholes and dust, coupled with the lowest intent to get them rectified. Don’t see any of this changing in the next five years,” he said.
The CEO did not reveal where they would be relocating.
Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh invited BlackBuck to relocate to Visakhapatnam. “Hi Rajesh, can I interest you in relocating your company to Vizag? We are rated among top 5 cleanest cities in India, are building best-in-class infra, and have been rated the safest city for women,” Lokesh said in a post on X.
Bellandur, one of the earliest localities in Bengaluru to attract global IT companies and large residential projects, has for years struggled with broken roads, clogged drains, and civic neglect despite being one of the city’s highest revenue-generating areas.
The Greater Bengaluru IT Companies and Industries Association called the BlackBuck exit “a wake-up call.” In a statement, General Secretary Krishna Kumar Gowda said, “The decision of leading firms to move out highlights the urgent need for government intervention. We call for a transparent roadmap to improve roads, metro connectivity, and public utilities, and reiterate our willingness to collaborate with authorities to restore Bengaluru’s status as the tech capital of India.”
The 17-km ORR stretch between Silk Board and KR Puram is home to over 500 firms, with nearly a million employees commuting daily. Traffic authorities say vehicular movement along the corridor has spiked by 45% in the past year, further straining its potholed and congested roads.
Former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai described the development as a governance failure. “Big big failure of governance in Bengaluru. Minister DK Shivakumar please see, cos are moving out of ORR. Situation beyond hope. Please intervene,” he posted on X.
Biocon Executive Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, in a post on X, said, “This is serious. Emergency measures needed to fix these issues DK Shivakumar.”