The Hindu : Bill Gates pledges Rs. 2,000 cr.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 13, 2002

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Bill Gates pledges Rs. 2,000 cr.

By Sandeep Dikshit

The President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and the Chairman of Microsoft Corporation, Bill Gates, in the Mughal Gardens at the Rashtrapthi Bhavan on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI NOV. 12. The Microsoft Chairman, Bill Gates, today pledged Rs. 2,000 crores to India over the next three years and called upon the Government to create conditions for widespread use of software for personal and societal enrichment. Mr. Gates spoke for an hour on Microsoft's vision for the future and its investment plans in India. The $400 million, he said, would be channelled into four categories — basic education, co-development with other companies (described as partnerships), accelerating work on software in Indian languages (localisation) and providing more money to its Hyderabad-based captive software development centre (innovation).

Some areas of investment looked purely philanthropic but each was meant to advance the company's commercial prospects. Even the most altruistic `Project Shiksha' aimed at educating 35 lakh children, envisages sales of licensed Microsoft software. In response to questions later, he did not conceal this fact. "In education, we have very low pricing. For big education projects, we will have larger donations so that the cost of software is lower." There will be no mixing of charity and commerce though both can co-exist.

Microsoft has set apart the maximum amount of $100 million (Rs. 500 crores) for its India Development Centre, whose strength will more than double to 500 from the current 200. Plans to involve more Indian companies in its software development and marketing plans are second on the investment agenda. The company will work with Indian companies to develop ".net ready" solutions and frame strategies to sell them in the world market.

Continuing with Mr. Gates' vision of "bringing computing to the grassroots'', the third part of his plan is making Windows XP available in Malayalam and Bengali, increasing the number of Indian languages supported by this software to 11. `Project Shiksha' aims to train 80,000 teachers who will work in 10 State Government-funded IT academy centres and teach IT in 2,000 schools over five years to an estimated 35 lakh children.

With a large part of his mystique having thinned over the years, the queries also lost their reverential tinge. The question troubling most was also asked — is his India visit more of a marketing opportunity and less to do with altruistic motives? The Microsoft chief saw it differently. "I will say that most countries in the world which Microsoft supports and our partners there, we help them simplify and synchronise. It is only because of Microsoft's approach that the computer industry has become a worldwide industry. Opening up the standards of the PC and making them available globally enabled them to avail themselves of the progress globally. What that meant to a country like India is pretty incredible.''

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