Gujarat plans centre of excellence, Narayana Murthy may be mentor

Gujarat has roped in Chairman and Chief Mentor of Infosys, N R Narayana Murthy, to guide a proposed international centre of excellence near Ahmedabad.

The state government has initiated the process of setting up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) – Gujarat Foundation for Entrepreneurship Excellence (GFEE) – with a 50:50 equity partnership of Rs 5 lakh each between Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Ltd (GMDC) and a private company, Gujarat Entrepreneurship Venture Promotion Foundation (GEVPF) to develop the centre.

According to government officials, an agreement between the two companies have been inked and the SPV will be formed within the next couple of months. “The formation of this company is aimed at supporting innovation and incubate entrepreneurs. A center of excellence will be set up near Ahmedabad to facilitate new age innovations, nurture them and protect them. GMDC will take a lead role in developing this center expected to come up on 30-32 acre plot,” said V S Gadhvi, managing director, GMDC.

Murthy had expressed his willingness to steer the project after Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi invited him to take up the mentorship of the centre during a meeting yesterday. However, Murthy’s role in the centre will depend on how much time he will be able to invest considering his tight schedule.

Meanwhile, while delivering the Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Lecture on ‘Towards a corruption-free India’ at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA), Murthy said: “Dr Kaushik Basu, a well-known economist and the current Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, has proposed a law to make bribe giving legal. He is a very bright thinker so we must consider it. He believes that because the existing act holds both the bribe giver and the bribe taker guilty, they consent to keep it a secret. If bribe giving, and not bribe taking, is made legal then the bribe giver shall indeed cooperate with the authorities to expose the bribe taker.”  

“This is akin to bribe taker turning an approver under the current system and escaping punishment. This sounds to be an interesting idea and I think it should be implemented.”