Bangalore riots cost IT sector $160 million

The technology hub witnessed huge loses after fans mourning the death of Kannada actor Rajkumar went berserk.

Rioting by fans, mourning the death of Kannada film icon Rajkumar, would have cost the technology hub of Bangalore around $160 million, with software firms losing $40 million in revenues.

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TV Mohandas Pai, chief financial officer at Infosys Technologies Ltd, said his company lost $4 million on Thursday, when mobs brought work to a standstill in the city.

The violence by tens of thousands of fans mourning the 77-year-old actor left at least five people dead, and disrupted work in the country's silicon capital that is also home to Microsoft Corp and IBM.

"We will make up by working one extra day," Pai said on the sidelines of Infosys' fourth-quarter results as the city limped back to normal.

Work at Bangalore contributed nearly half of Nasdaq-listed Infosys' revenue of $2.1 billion in the year to March.

Software companies operating in Bangalore would have seen losses of $40 million in revenue, Pai said, adding that software contributed 25 per cent of the city's gross domestic product.