Murthy says no to politics

N R Narayana Murthy, chairman and chief mentor of Infosys Technologies has denied rumours of joining active politics after his retirement as executive chairman of the company in August next year.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday evening after meeting chief minister N Dharam Singh and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, he said: "I will continue as non-executive chairman and chief mentor of Infosys Technologies after my retirement as full time chairman next year. I am on the board of several companies and educational institutions including the Reserve Bank of India and I will continue to involve in their activities as well."

He said Infosys had provided jobs to over 40,000 persons in the country and of these 10,400 were Kannadigas. "It is not appropriate to protest against our company," he said.

He said Karnataka had the potential to increase software and IT exports from the present Rs 30,000 crore to Rs 1 lakh crore and provide employment from the present 3 lakh to 10 lakh in the next few years.