INFORMATION technology (IT) companies prefer Chennai over any other city in the country, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom).

The basic advantage for the companies based in Chennai are low cost of living, less commuting time, availability of housing units in plenty at affordable costs and excellent education facilities for children.

Chennai scored an overall rating of 3.2 against a maximum possible 3.5. The factors in favour of Chennai include availability of software professionals, data communication and training facilities, international and domestic airports, besides the competitive cost of setting up software units and the city's proximity to the market. Tamil Nadu is traditionally known as a base for education.

It has several institutes like Anna University, Bharathiyar University, Bharathidasan University, Regional Engineering College, Trichy, and IIT. Today, Tamil Nadu is one of the top three states which produces a large number of engineers and computer professionals.
The state accounts for 51 per cent of the total number of students in the country graduating in the disciplines of electronics and computer science annually. Also, many foreign companies prefer IT professionals from Tamil Nadu as they are English-speaking.

In terms of entertainment also the city has much to boast about. It has the second longest beach in the world, amusement parks, evening clubs, golf clubs, a race course, bowling centres, billiards centres, shopping (several retail chains) and restaurants.
``We primarily set up our base here to handle our first client, Citibank, which is based in Chennai. The city also provides a congenial work environment in terms of expanded resources, intelligent man- power and facilities offered by software technology parks,'' says Rajiv Malhotra, vice-president corporate planning and corporate communications, Polaris Software Lab Ltd.