The Hindu Business Line : Infosys yet to decide on initiatives in Maharashtra

POPULAR expectation created and then nurtured by the media notwithstanding, Infosys Technologies Ltd has not yet decided on any new initiatives in Maharashtra.

Responding to a query from Business Line regarding reports in sections of the media about the "wooing" of Mr N.R. Narayana Murthy, Infosys Chairman and Chief Mentor, by the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh, following the attack on the former by the Janata Dal (S) head, Mr H.D. Deve Gowda, and his subsequent resignation from the chairmanship of Bangalore International Airport Ltd, Mr Narayana Murthy said: "The Maharashtra CM has got in touch with me. We already have two large centres in Pune. We have not yet decided on any new initiatives in Maharashtra."

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra IT Secretary, Mr Ajay Bhushan Pandey, has been quoted as saying that "talks are going on between the State Government officers and the company officials," but has, so far, refused to comment on the exact status of the talks and on the concessions, if any offered to Infosys.

"You should understand that other States are also interested in getting Infosys to expand in their area. So, I cannot tell you what concessions we have offered to Infosys," he has said.

Mr Pandey's essentially non-committal position, however, has not prevented the media here from forecasting a quantum leap in IT investments and growth, predicated on the invitation extended to Mr Narayana Murthy to head a high-level panel overseeing the establishment of a mega IT city in Pune - among other factors, including the city's much vaunted but limited international air connectivity, readily available manpower, and purportedly low employee attrition.

In fact, the State Industries Secretary, Mr V.K. Jairath, had told a gathering of the city's top industrialists recently that the State Government was committed to the development of Pune "as the IT destination of the future" through the securing of a Special Economic Zone status for Phase III of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation's (MIDC) Hinjewadi technology park which, as one media report put it, "is already home to IT biggies such as Infosys and Wipro."

Interestingly, no mention has been made by the State bureaucracy or the local media of the somewhat bizarre notice issued to Infosys by a district revenue official, demanding the payment of a royalty of Rs 87 lakh and a penalty of Rs 10 crore for purportedly having mined "minor minerals" at the company's Hinjewadi campus under Section 48, sub-section I, of the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966.

According to a board-level Infosys source, the company has taken up the issue with the State Government as the campus is located in the MIDC area.

However, an MIDC source, on conditions of anonymity, told this correspondent that both the Government and the MIDC are quite nonplussed by the turn of events and are not at all certain what is to be done.

In any event, the piquant situation brought about by the thalathi (local official) has provoked a great deal of comment among legal experts here, who hold that the relevant sections of the code are quite anomalous.

If implemented vigorously, they will pretty much bring real estate development, smoke stack ventures, click-and-mortar establishments - just about any activity conducted in a building with foundations - to a standstill unless the Government acts speedily to amend or qualify the code through a notification.