Billionaire entrepreneur and Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath recently raised the pressing issue of Bengaluru‘s traffic woes in a candid conversation with two of the city’s top cops — Commissioner B Dayananda and Joint Commissioner (Traffic) MN Anucheth — on his podcast, WTF.
Highlighting the city’s growing reputation for gridlock, Kamath said, “Whenever I speak well of Bengaluru, people immediately complain about traffic. What’s really going wrong? Can anything be done?”
In response, Mr. Anucheth traced the problem back to the post-2000 IT boom, which rapidly increased the number of residents and vehicles. He pointed out that infrastructure development hasn’t kept pace with this surge.
Today, Bengaluru has around 1.23 crore vehicles for a population of 1.5 crore, translating to roughly 872 vehicles per 1,000 people — higher than Delhi or Mumbai. “From 2013 to 2023, vehicles doubled from 56 lakh to 1.12 crore, growing at 8% annually,” he noted.
Adding to the issue is the city’s inadequate public transport system, which until recently relied heavily on BMTC buses. Unlike Delhi or Kolkata, Bengaluru lacked alternative modes like metros or trams until Namma Metro began.
Kamath also shared his personal frustration with delays in metro construction, mentioning that work near his Bannerghatta Road home has dragged on for nearly a decade.
In a surprising reveal, he said he bought a house in October 2024, breaking away from his long-held belief in renting.
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