Premji urges Left at Centre to follow Bengal

Azim Premji, chairman Wipro Technologies, urged the government of West Bengal to advise the Left parties at the Centre to be as proactive.

Addressing members of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), Premji said West Bengal's Left Front state government and its policies were progressive and any influence that the local government could have on the policies of the Left Front at the Centre would be useful.

Premji explained, some of the policies being undertaken by the present government were expected and the Left Front should support it.

Premji said with every visit, he noticed some improvement in Kolkata's infrastructure.

He compared Kolkata with Hyderabad and said, like Hyderabad, Kolkata was keeping up with increased demand for infrastructure unlike some other cities.

In response to a query , Premji listed some of things the state government could do for betterment. For instance, more international flights would help the IT companies in Kolkata, he said.

Flights to Tokyo and Frankfurt even with a frequency of twice a week would be helpful. "Germany will be a potentially large customer for us" added Premji.

Premji said curtailment of bandhs was necessary. "In the last seven-eightmonths that we have started operations, there have been six bandhs" he said.

On the positives for Kolkata, Azim Premji said that dedicated talent was available and the infrastructure was being developed in tandem with the demand.