Coding a new destiny: Bengaluru’s blueprint will forever have an SMK imprint | India News – Times of India

BENGALURU: In the annals of the city’s transformation from a retiree’s paradise to ‘Silicon Valley’, few political figures loom as tall as SM Krishna, the former chief minister of Karnataka.
During his tenure from 1999 to 2004, Krishna laid the foundation for what would become India’s most robust technology ecosystem, transforming Bengaluru from a sleepy government town into the country’s premier technology hub.
As Bengaluru, where the middle class came of age in the late 1980s – companies like Infosys had been established – and post-liberalization economic growth found new avenues, Prime Ministers like Veerappa Moily, HD Deve Gowda and JH Patel had given the city an edge. A remarkable change began with Krishna’s tenure, when Karnataka and especially its capital came into power.
When Krishna took office, the global technology landscape was on the cusp of a massive shift. The Y2K phenomenon created an unprecedented demand for tech talent, and Krishna saw this as a golden opportunity.
Unlike many of his contemporaries who viewed technology with skepticism, he embraced it with foresight and enthusiasm. Krishna’s approach was very strategic.

He personally cultivated relationships with global technology leaders and politicians and built direct connections. Although his connections with people like Bill Gates (Microsoft) or John Chambers (Cisco) are well documented, Krishna also managed to attract politicians.
For example, the visit to Bengaluru in mid-2000 by then Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori proved to be instrumental in realizing Bengaluru’s ambitions. It paved the way for foreign direct investment from Japan into the Indian technology sector.
In fact, Krishna’s tenure coincided with Bengaluru becoming a major destination for visits by top executives and politicians. Then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair, GE’s Jack Welch and Intel’s Craig Barrett are some examples. Bengaluru became a hub for the back-office operations of several of these multinationals that set up BPOs, opening the doors to offshore operations. The city has since grown into a city that is now home to GCCs of dozens of multinationals.
Mohandas Pai, Chairman of Aarin Capital Partners and former CFO of Infosys, said: “…A true globalist, he has worked hard to make Bengaluru a truly global city and Karnataka the best state in India. He was a star and a statesman…’
But it is not that Krishna had it all very easy. Not far from Bengaluru – 570 km may seem far, but consider this in the context of the entire world being a connected village – lay Hyderabad of undivided Andhra Pradesh.
Its CM, Chandrababu Naidu, was equally determined to make his capital the technology hub of India. His efforts as CM and personal technical knowledge later earned him the nickname Cyber ​​Babu. The competition was fierce. Hyderabad, under Naidu, has been aggressive in courting technology companies.
“…Our friendship transcends the competitive spirit we shared in attracting investments to our respective states. He was a true leader who always prioritized the welfare of his people,” Naidu said on Tuesday, while offering his condolences to Krishna’s family and friends.
While many experts agree that Karnataka’s technological trajectory might have been dramatically different without Krishna, what set him apart was his holistic approach. He understood that attracting technology companies was not just about offering incentives, but about creating an ecosystem that could support and nurture innovation. He formed the IT Task Force with Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy at the helm.
The need for an ecosystem to support the investments and businesses you initially attracted led Krishna to also establish the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF), a public-private partnership – a groundbreaking concept at the time – that brought together business leaders, social managers and entrepreneurs.
The results were transformative. Companies like Wipro and Infosys found in Krishna an ally who understood their potential. In the early 2000s, Bengaluru was already dubbed the ‘Silicon Valley of India’ – a moniker that has become a moniker.
Biocon Chairman Kiran Mazumdar Shaw says, “He was a visionary CM who brought transformational policies that made Bengaluru and Karnataka a global technology hub. He created Vision Groups as a unique partnership model between business and bureaucracy to deliver IT, BT and startup policies that are still being emulated by successive governments. I consider him one of the great CMs of our country who leaves behind an unforgettable legacy of progressive reforms.”
After the initial setback that saw the consortium of Tata Group, Raytheon and Singapore Changi Airport withdraw from the Bangalore International Airport project due to delays in approvals, the JH Patel government had managed to formalize an MoU between the AAI and KSIIDC.
And it was during Krishna’s tenure that a good foundation was laid for the new airport, which is operational today.
Similarly, during his tenure, a formative impetus came for the Metro project, which was conceived way back in the 1980s, with his government ordering DMRC to conduct a detailed study leading to the final DPR for Phase 1 after Krishna’s term of office, in 2006.