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West Bengal needs to sustain its growth momentum, while it should look to promote entrepreneurship, particularly through start-ups, S. Gopalakrishnan, President-CII, and Vice-Chairman, Infosys, said here on Wednesday.
He suggested that Bengal, like Bangalore, should look to facilitate start-ups and “overall plans and policies” that would help in both direct and indirect employment generation.
According to him, the industry as such is witnessing a slowdown because of which focus should be on promoting entrepreneurship and developing an ecosystem for start-ups.
“A lot has happened in Bengal and this has to be sustained… Now with the slowdown there is a need to embrace start-ups,” he told reporters on the sidelines of CII’s National Conference on Leadership.
A policy to encourage start-ups and entrepreneurship was welcome.
The fact that the State is not among the top five IT destinations in the country, should however, not be construed as its weakness. But rather the “huge growth opportunity” that it presents.
“It (West Bengal) is not among the top five destinations (for IT investments). But why it is not there is a matter of the past. That’s history. Its time to look at the future to grow,” he added.
Bangalore model
Referring to Bangalore, Gopalakrishnan pointed out that the city has come up with a successful ecosystem to promote start-ups. It has also seen the IT sector flourish and emerge as a major employer.
Of the 80 lakh population, some 7 lakh (or approximately one out of every 10 persons) work for an IT company and around 35 lakh people indirectly are benefited from IT.
“Hence the Government must look at all policies and a comprehensive plan. In case of a slowdown, there would be a need to push for new entrepreneurship too,” he added.
Aggressive push
Meanwhile, Kiran Karnik, former President of Nasscom and now a member of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and also a member to the National Innovation Council, pointed out that the political crisis in Hyderabad over the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh could help West Bengal emerge as a strong IT investment destination for the future.
The State Government could speak to industry captains like N.R. Naryana Murthy of Infosys or Azim Premji of Wipro to aggressively pursue issues relating to promoting IT in the State. Opinions could be sought from these industry captains to make the State more IT-friendly.
abhishek.l@thehindu.com
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