Salil Parekh said, “We are planning to work with all the regulations of the state and central governments. We will work on, we support whatever regulations and guidelines will come. We’ll wait and see what they look like as time develops, but our approach in general is to make sure we are aligned to the new laws and regulations that come out.”

Karnataka’s flip-flop on reservation bill

This comes after the Karnataka State Employment of Local Candidates in the Industries, Factories and Other Establishments Bill, 2024 was cleared by the state Cabinet earlier this week.

The bill proposes that “any industry, factory or other establishments shall appoint 50 per cent of local candidates in management categories and 70 per cent in non-management categories”. Following fierce criticism from business leaders, the bill has now been put on hold.

Reactions to Karnataka’s reservation bill

PhonePe CEO Samir Nigam called the proposal a “shame” and said in post on social media, “I am 46 years old. Never lived in a state for 15 yrs. My father worked in the Indian Navy. Got posted all over the country. His kids don’t deserve jobs in Karnataka? I build companies. Have created 25000 jobs across India! My kids dont deserve jobs in their home city? Shame.”

Chief Finance Officer of Infosys, TV Mohandas Pai called the bill as “regressive” and said that it “should be junked”.

He said on X (formerly Twitter) referring to the Bill, “It is discriminatory, regressive and against the constitution, @Jairam_Ramesh (Congress leader) is govt to certify who we are? This is a fascist bill as in Animal Farm, unbelievable that @INCIndia can come up with a bill like this- a govt officer will sit on recruitment committees of private sector? People have to take a language test?”

Biocon Managing Director 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.