Chitty Chitty Bang(alore)

Recently, I was talking to one of the directors of a Bangalore-based MNC

hardware vendor asking him about the rains in Bangalore. He replied, in jest,

that he is now planning to make an investment 'in a boat'. The humor failed

to hide the disappointment of people in the Indian IT sector, about the state of

affairs of the Indian IT capital, Bangalore. I'm sure the feeling is not

restricted to the IT segment only and would be similar across a cross section of

segments. Barring the rains, the other big news was about the Deve Gowda -

Narayana Murthy slugfest. In all the charges and counter charges-Deve Gowda vs

Infosys and SM Krishna-what is being forgotten is the pathetic state of

Bangalore's infrastructure. Before you say, "What's new about

that," I think the current spat could be a watershed for companies, IT and

non-IT alike-Bangalore or any part of the country.

Mr Gowda had raised a very important point-transparency and accountability,

something that a majority of his ilk refuse to come clean with. He alleged that

Infosys has been grabbing land at concessional rates, displacing people, and he

questioned Murthy's involvement on the airport front. Infosys came out with a

quick and sharp reaction to each of the allegations.

This is an important learning for the Indian IT community. Politics is a very

different ball game. Unlike the much-researched response from Infosys on the

allegations, the former prime minister had came out in a public forum with

popular rhetoric-who cares about research and data veracity? It was up to

Murthy and Infosys to prove the charges and not the other way round. So, if you

are a firm believer of the public-private partnership, remember the rules are

very very different. You cannot stay away from the murkiness of politics because

you cannot have a cordial relationship with each and every politician. Murthy is

supposedly close to the current Maharashtra governor and ex CM of Karnataka, SM

Krishna.

The other part of the story, which I think will continue to resurface time

and again, is how much has IT contributed to the local economy. I think that

Deve Gowda made a valid point when he sought information about the investments

made by Infosys and the employment generated by the company. I also think this

was a very loaded question, not only for Infosys but also for the entire

Bangalore IT community. Given the media hype that the IT sector, IT companies,

and IT personalities generate, and the eagerness of various state governments to

invite IT companies and offer good deals to them, this is bound to happen. I

think industry associations like Nasscom or CII should come out with their

research on the contribution of the Indian IT sector to the local economy,

despite the zero tax paid by IT companies. The research needs to take in factors

like taxes paid by IT employees, land boom caused by IT and subsequent stamp

duties collected by local government and other similar parameters. I think, in

the coming years, this is going to be a useful document to help the IT industry

take on most allegations.

The private-public relationship is a double-edged sword. Be a part of it,

face frustration and disappointment like members of the Bangalore Action Task

Force experienced, and be ready to have stains on your squeaky-clean reputation.

Ignore it at the cost of your conscience and local development...it's now been

only 15 years for the Bangalore airport project, since it was conceptualized,

and we are all keeping our fingers crossed on when our flight will land there!

Yograj Varma

Associate Editor, Dataquest