Gates to invest $ 50-m, ties up with Infosys

The best news for the corporate world was the announcement of a strategic global alliance with Indian software giant, Infosys, for developing business solutions in areas of customer relationship management, e-commerce, financial services and insurance. This is the first alliance of its kind signed by Microsoft worldwide.

Microsoft and Infosys would also work in tandem to add the Indian touch to Microsoft’s software packages for the Indian market. The companies will undertake joint marketing initiatives and account planning.

The alliance was formally announced at a Press conference here by Bill Gates and N R Naryana Murthy, CEO of Infosys Technologies. Infosys and Microsoft will also set up a Competency Centre at Bangalore which would showcase high-end solutions developed on Microsoft technologies.

Speaking on the occasion, Gates said: “Infosys continues to build a strong solution development reputation in the US and other international markets and brings a huge pool of resources skilled on Microsoft technologies. Together, we can deliver world class e-business solutions to our existing and future customers.”

However, both companies refused to elaborate on the projected revenue flows from the alliance or the nature of joint investments by the partners.

Keeping with the trend of launching portals, Gates unveiled msn.co.in, a comprehensive portal with local content in news, weather, entertainment and online games and a TV viewing planner.

Gates also announced an amount of $ 5 million over the next five years ($ 1 million every year) for rural education and expressed his willingness to join hands with the Ministry of Information Technology to undertake a project to develop media labs in India for developing software for the media.

After his meeting with Gates, IT minister Pramod Mahajan said “Mr Gates has shown keen interest in the Indian government’s initiatives in taking IT to the masses.”

Mahajan also briefed Gates on how India already had a set of cyber laws in place and the strides India had made in the fields of IT, telecom and broadcasting.

Mahajan, like other Indian politicians, urged Gates to develop software in regional Indian languages and Gates agreed to do so in Hindi to begin with.

Apart from this, another $ 5 million has been pledged by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support Bharti Vidya Bhawan’s free job-oriented computer training programmes for the educated unemployed in India.

Murli Deora, Vice Chairman of the Gandhi Institute which runs this programme, appreciated Gates’ move.