Murthy wants Kejriwal to see reason on biz front

The remarks come in the backdrop of Kejriwal's confrontation with power distribution companies in the NCR over rate and power supply

Praising Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejrival for some of the work he has done, Infosys Executive Chairman N R Narayana Murthy on Thursday said the Aam Aadmi Party leader needs to be reasonable with business. "He (Kejriwal) has done certain good things. However, he also has to be reasonable to business," he told CNBC-TV18.

The remarks come in the backdrop of Kejriwal's confrontation with power distribution companies in the National Capital Region (NCR) over rate and power supply.

Earlier this month, Kejriwal had accused BSES discoms of trying to "blackmail" the government by threatening power cuts of up to 10 hours a day and warned them of strict action, including possible cancellation of licences.

On the economy, Murthy said: "As far as urban India is concerned, as far as majority of the economy is concerned, there is considerable confusion in the minds of people." The economy is not doing as well as it should, it is not growing as well as it should, he added.

"Even my own industry is certainly not doing as well as it could. We saw the results of one of our highly respected competitors yesterday and there was some concern there. We ourselves did not do as well as we wanted in Q3 (the October-December period of 2013-14). So, overall, I think there is considerable concern about our economy at least, as far as the urban India is concerned," Murthy, who is the co-founder of India's second largest software services exporter, added.

On his expectations from the next government at the Centre, he said: "As somebody who is completely apolitical, all that I would say is that I want the next government to ensure that the friction to business is reduced very heavily. That more and more taxes are collected and those taxes are used efficiently."

General elections are scheduled to take place this year. The concern is that the friction to business is still not as low as a country in our position should have. He said. "In my own industry for example even now it is so difficult for our foreign visitors to visit us," he added.

"The visa on arrival is still not available for countries with whom we have the highest trading partnership. So, there are many other areas where I believe friction to business is still very high, that has to be reduced," Murthy added.