Jobs in Pune : Pune may gain thousands of Microsoft jobs in next few years

It took ten years for Microsoft to realize where is the software talent hub of India! Finally they are planning big on Pune though showing as if not really interested. What Pune can provide Microsoft is real research and development in next generation systems software.


Ravi Venkatesan: Sets 6-point agenda for Pune, asks govt. to be aggressive. It was a challenge thrown by none other than the Big Brother of software, Microsoft, to the state government in particular and the industry in general. And except for a tame response from the government representative, principal secretary (industries) Vishwas Dhumal, there was no one to take up the gauntlet. The occasion: Third edition of Digital Maharashtra as Microsoft India chairman Ravi Venkatesan decided to do some plain speak. Pointing out that in spite of having got accolades from World Bank for being the most favourable destination for investment, Maharashtra’s glass was only ‘‘half-full’’. And coming to the city of Pune, which is close to the former chairman of Cummins India, who spent a large part of life in the city, it was a clear no when it came for Microsoft to invest, unless it shaped up. ‘‘When we wanted to expand, we did an internal survey of six cities and unfortunately Pune is number four on the list. Pune is not a favoured destination and in the mind share we are not there,’’ he said. Pointing out that it was the season of the year when multinational CEOs visit the country, Venkatesan said: ‘‘usually it is Delhi, always Bangalore and Mumbai, because it is the financial capital and also headquarters of Reliance and Tata.’’ Asking the city to set two specific goals for the next three years — ‘‘Pune must become preferred destination (for IT companies) and use IT to lift population in small towns and rural areas’’ — Venkatesan set a six-point agenda for development of the city. ‘‘If Chandrababu Naidu and S M Krishna (both former CMs of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka respectively) put their states on the map and captured the imagination of the CEOs of the world, the Maharashtra Government has not been promoting the state anywhere near as aggressive,’’ he said. Giving top priority to infrastructure, Venkatesan said Pune scored relatively low on this count. ‘‘It is impossible to find a good hotel in Pune. The roads of Bangalore are astonishingly bad, but Pune is headed the same way. Air pollution is also one of the highest,’’ the Bangalore-based Microsoft India chief said. But it was not the end. ‘‘Yesterday (on Sunday), power tripped seven times in Pune. You cannot run an IT company with diesel generator sets,’’ Venkatesan said. His agenda: State should make IT its priority and promote it, improve infrastructure, enhance the talent pool (‘‘there is an ad hoc effort rather than a coordinated effort’’), be a leader in e-governance, attract a few lighthouse companies (‘‘in IT people like to follow trends, there is a herd-like mentality’’) and much more commitment towards a public-private partnership. ‘‘We are at a decisive walk on the road,’’ he added. As for Dhumal, he said the challenge before Digital Maharashtra would be to upgrade Pune from number 4 to number 1. Later, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) commissioner Nitin Kareer, too, chipped in by saying the quality of life was the most important thing and ‘‘PMC is deeply committed to it — from physical infrastructure to cultural entertainment’’.