Premji backs Bengal, takes a dig at Karnataka

Buddha best CM, says Azim Premji
Financial Express

KOLKATA, NOV 19: Buddhadev Bhattacharjee on Friday got a special ranking from a person used to finding himself on global listings.

Mr Bhattacharjee is the country’s best chief minister, declared Mr Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro and India’s richest man.

But Mr Bhattacharjee’s comrades in Delhi and his government have to do a lot to catch up with him, Mr Premji’s comments seemed to indicate.

Mr Premji said West Bengal’s chief minister is not only in the same league as the now-ousted chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandra-babu Naidu, once the darling of India’s IT sector, but Mr Bhattacharjee’s task is much more difficult since he has “many straitjackets around him”.

Liberalisation is an ongoing process and its speed depends on “our political masters,” Mr Premji said. “Some members of the Upper House should realise this,” Mr Premji said, possibly referring to Parliament as opposed to the state legislature.

Mr Premji and Mr Raman Roy, chief executive officer of Wipro Spectramind, were here to inaugurate Wipro’s first software development cum BPO centre in Kolkata and its 7th in the country.

Mr Roy sounded a note of caution on bandhs here, citing how a prospective customer had sent him paper clippings about the bandhs when Wipro made a pitch. The state has just tackled one bandh and faces two more, but none of them is backed by the ruling Left Front.

Mr Premji’s praise for the chief minister came after a lecture on organisational leadership organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

Mr Premji, who had recently criticised the government in Bangalore for allowing the infrastructure to decay, said West Bengal has become the place for investments and the person to be credited with the change is the chief minister.

“The state has the best chief minister of the country,” Mr Premji said.

Mr Premji also promised to set up Wipro’s second campus here in the new township of Rajarhat as soon as he gets the promised 40 acres from the government.

The Rs 200-crore campus inaugurated Friday is designed to house around 7,000 employees, but has only around 1,000 at present providing helpdesk services to US computer major Dell and software development for a retail chain.

But two major issues are the poor international flights links and the need to invest more in infrastructure.

“Though there are a number of flights to London and Amsterdam, flights to New York, Boston or Chicago are a must for our clients who always look for reduced commuting time,” said Mr Premji.

Mr Premji said there has to be more investment in infrastructure, “otherwise the state can become like some southern states which are losing incremental business on account of deterioration in infrastructure.”

“There is no dearth of business — give me good people and we will employ them,” said Mr Roy.

Mr Premji said that the ITeS industry has the power to generate a million jobs every year. “For every job created in the ITeS sector, three jobs are created indirectly,” he said.