Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said “As a tech hub we need skilled talent and whilst the aim is to provide jobs for locals we must not affect our leading position in technology by this move. There must be caveats that exempt highly skilled recruitment from this policy.”
Former Infosys director TV Mohandas Pai said the bill should be junked as it is “discriminatory, regressive and against the constitution.” He called it “a fascist bill as in Animal Farm, unbelievable that the @INCIndia can come up with a bill like this- a govt officer will sit on recruitment committees of the private sector? People have to take a language test?”
Assocham co-chairman RK Mishra slammed the bill, ridiculing it as “another genius move from Govt of Karnataka. “Mandate local reservation and appoint government officers in every company to monitor. This will scare Indian IT & GCCs,” he posted on X.
The state cabinet had on Monday cleared a bill called The Karnataka State Employment of Local Candidates In the Industries, Factories and Other Establishments Bill, 2024.
Patil, who led a team of senior officials to Japan and South Korea recently to seek investments, spoke to the media, promising the address the concerns.
The minister said he would discuss with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge, Law Minister HK Patil and Labour Minister Santosh Lad, and go for wider consultations on the bill while keeping the interests of Kannadigas. “We will ensure that the interests of Kannadigas are protected, alongside those of the industries.”
“Karnataka is a progressive state, and we cannot afford to lose in this once-in-a-century race of industrialization. We will make sure that everyone’s interests are safeguarded. The industries are assured that they need not have any fear or apprehensions and can rest assured,” he posted on X.
He added: “India is currently experiencing a manufacturing and industrial revolution driven by the global China Plus One policy. In this competitive era, states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana are striving to be at their best. It is of utmost importance for all states to be at their competitive peak.
According to the Karnataka GCC Landscape report released by Electronics, IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge on Monday, Karnataka will have about one million professionals working in global capability centres (GCCs) by 2030. There were about 5.70 lakh people employed in GCCs, as of now, the report said. Bengaluru holds a commanding 39% market share of the larger GCC market in India.
Bengaluru remains the hotspot for GCC build outs, hub for startups and preferred choice for platform engineering, owing to access to 25% of India’s digital talent. Karnataka is home to about 570 GCCs in India and leads the GCC talent market by a large margin.
Karnataka is home to 26,000 plus active startups, in which more than 50% are tech start-ups. Bengaluru is the Unicorn capital of India with 40% of unicorns located in the city. Bengaluru is also home to more than 25% of India’s digital talent of more than 3,25,000 professionals. Bengaluru is the world’s second largest hub for the AI talent pool.
JOBS FOR LOCALS: According to the draft law, any industry, factory or other establishments shall appoint 50% of local candidates in management categories and 75% in non-management categories. It defines local candidates as candidates born in Karnataka or domiciled for a period of 15 years or capable of speaking, reading, and writing. People in the last category, however, must pass a test conducted by the nodal agency, notified by the government.
Non-management category means people working in factory, industry, company, establishment in the position of clerical, unskilled, semi-filled, skilled employees involved in IT/ITES and includes contract and casual workers, according to the bill.
A company, however, can seek exemption in the event local candidates are not available. The bill, however, caps such exemptions at 25% for management category and 50% for non-management category. The violations will invite a penalty.
