Think Bangalore, think start-ups. The city has firmly established its Silicon-Valley-of-India image in the last couple of years. But Priyank Kharge, Karnataka’s IT Minister is far from done. After creating a proactive incubation, mentoring, and funding infrastructure for start-ups, the 39-year old minister is now burning the midnight oil to diffuse the concentration of start-up innovation from Bangalore onto other parts of the state.
His vision for the state, tackling IT layoffs head on, and working closely with IT behemoths to find a solution to the looming threat of automation, are all clearly articulated.
Read the young minister’s take on Karnataka’s IT industry in the following edited excerpts from an interview.
Q: How are the synergies between the Centre and the State on Digital India?
A: I think Karnataka is far ahead in the digital ecosystem, compared with elsewhere in the country.
Be it about providing mobile services or citizen services through mobile, revenue system, billing system, citizens guaranteed services, all are digitised.
Also with respect to connectivity in rural areas, we have done some very good work. All birth and death certificates are digitised; land records are digitised, and can be obtained within 30 minutes. The incentives and subsidies due to the farmers are directly credited to their bank account, which brings financial inclusion.
Our ecosystem is vibrant and progressive, and by this year end, all our gram panchayats will be connected by high-end broadband to ensure complete delivery of all government schemes at the Panchayat level.
From Panchayat we are also talking of last mile connectivity to a village level entrepreneur, schools or any other government services that may be required.
Q: Which other areas in Karnataka are being developed as IT hubs apart from Bengaluru?
A: It is very difficult to develop an IT hub from the scratch, until and unless there is some ready ecosystem. Just opening a park wouldn’t entail anything. Fortunately, Karnataka has a lot of traction when it comes to tech and innovation.
We have an aerospace park in Belgaum that is incubating startups only in this space if they are interested. In Mysuru we have hardware accelerators coming up. Hubli gets a lot of traction in services. Mangaluru is getting popular for gaming and animation.
All these centres are being groomed as next IT destinations, but in different verticals. Recently, I as informed that start-ups in Hubli, Mangaluru, Mysuru combined got $22 million in funding in last few months. ITeS export from these regions is also over Rs 4,000 crore. There is also sustained effort to boost innovation in biotech. It’s a difficult task but we are at it.
Q: There has been talk of mass layoffs at IT companies. Have you been having conversations around that? What is the situation on ground?
A: The mass layoffs that have been predicted is yet to happen. In the past month and a half the volume of retrenchment has come down. But it is an issue, and upgradation of skills is an issue, and we are speaking to all stakeholders – employees and employers. They have their concerns, and we are trying to be a bridge between the two.
Of course, investments are important, and we will not go for any policy that will hurt it. At the same time we cannot have a completely industry-favouring or investor-based policy, which will be regressive for employees. I am a custodian of this industry and it’s my job to create a favourable environment for employment. It’s difficult but we are trying.
Q: How are you speaking to the employees?
A: I have spoken to employee forums and I have told them that it is not the old economy where employee unions can form, and our policies don’t have any provision for it. But as a custodian I have to listen to their concerns. So I have asked each forum to come back with their concerns in a written format.
They have little or no legal help, so I have offered corporate legal help, because corporate laws are more dynamic. This may help them position their demands more legitimately. It also helps me negotiate with the employers in a better way.
For example, if they are complaining about maternity leave, we have rules for that, if it is about sexual harassment at the workplace, we have the Vishakha judgement. But issues around appraisal systems being opaque of branding people as non-performers, need to be tackled differently.
Q: Bengaluru did not make it to the smart cities shortlist last year. Do you plan to leverage start-ups to build smart cities solutions?
A: Smart city is high on rhetoric and hype. Rs 100 crore is all you get. It’s not enough for me to even lay a drainage pipe. We are not restricted by the tag. Instead, we do a grand challenge of our own where we leverage start-ups for problems plaguing governance such as water re-treatment, malnutrition, and the upcoming one will probably be about traffic and mobility. We understand that not all start-ups need funding. Some are here just to get their idea validated. That is something we do, and others don’t. We take up an approved idea and let them test it on the field. That gives a proof of concept to the start-ups.
Source: Money Control
