The Hindu Business Line : Infosys contribution nothing compared to other IT cos: Gowda

CONTINUING his tirade against the Infosys Chief Mentor, Mr N.R. Narayana Murthy, the former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (S) chief, Mr H.D. Deve Gowda, on Saturday sought to belittle the IT major's contribution to the sector.

"Its (Infosys) contribution is nothing compared to other majors in the field such as Wipro, IBM and others," Mr Gowda told a press conference. "When other major IT companies such as Wipro still churn out a higher turnover from rented buildings, why is Infosys seeking more allotment of lands?" Mr Gowda asked.

Flaying Infosys demand for 845 acres of land on Sarjapur Road, which falls in the green belt, and over 300 acres more near the Bangalore International Airport project area to set up new software development centres, Mr Gowda sought to know why the State Government processed the applications at a lightning speed.

Mr Gowda also asked why Infosys wanted to build a five-star hotel in one of its campuses, seeking to vindicate his earlier charge that the company was using the land for commercial purposes.

Rebutting Infosys claims that it has created more jobs, Mr Gowda took a dig at the company's employment generation statistics, saying that out of three lakh IT sector jobs in the State, Infosys share is only 22,000.

"If the IT sector had any problems on infrastructure bottlenecks, they should approach the Government instead of making it a political issue and political confrontation," Mr Gowda said adding that Mr Murthy's resignation as the chairman of Bangalore International Airport was being used as the last weapon by the former chief minister, Mr S.M. Krishna, and his company to bring down the coalition Government in the State.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr Dharam Singh, said he had contacted Mr Narayana Murthy, currently in the US, over the phone and asked him to reconsider his decision to quit as BIAL Chairman.

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