“There is no need to make Bengaluru great again. It is already great. We are only working towards making it greater,” said Karnataka IT minister Priyank Kharge who has been tasked by deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar to meet IT-BT firms and hear their grievances on urban governance and better infrastructure for India’s Silicon Valley.
Speaking to News18, Kharge said Bengaluru has a blueprint and the government will deliver on its promise of world-class infrastructure and a roadmap for the city’s growth ahead of other metros.
“We are growing at 10.5 percent. We have the highest absorption of migrants and are creating that much employment. We need to ensure that infrastructure catches up and we will do that. We are one of the fastest-growing cities
in the world. To continue leading the way, we will sit with everyone, figure out what needs to be done, look at near milestones, and also assess longer milestones. And we will deliver—like we always have,” he said.
On Sunday, Shivakumar had promised during a citizen meeting that both he and Kharge would hold separate sessions with IT-BT companies to listen to their concerns and chalk out a workable plan addressing infrastructure, traffic, waste management, and other civic issues.
Defending the Congress government in Karnataka, Kharge said it is one that listens and believes in participation, engaging with citizens, citizen groups, and corporates.
“It’s not just about listening only to industry leaders; it’s also about listening to citizens, think tanks, and academia. We are open to talk to everybody. That is what the deputy chief minister has asked me to do—meet all these people and associations and come up with a probable solution for him to decide,” Kharge told News18.
The government is also preparing a roadmap for new technology hubs around Bengaluru to ease congestion and improve commutes for professionals working in the city’s concentrated tech clusters.
Bengaluru is home to one of the world’s largest concentrations of tech professionals—a strength that brings its own challenges. Its business and IT parks along the Outer Ring Road (ORR) make it the city’s most gridlocked corridor. With an estimated 2.5 million tech professionals, Bengaluru’s workforce surpasses Silicon Valley, USA. Over a million work in and around the ORR belt alone, contributing annual exports worth over Rs 1.5 lakh crore.
Asked about deadlines for infrastructure delivery, Kharge said, “For progress, the deadline is always yesterday.”
On recent social media exchanges and Twitter wars, followed by a dinner hosted by Shivakumar that was seen as an olive branch extended by the Karnataka government to industry leaders, Kharge said tech leaders like Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Mohandas Pai have always been partners in progress.
“My point is we have always considered industries as our partners in progress, and all policies are made after consultation with them. If infrastructure needs improvement to ensure their progress, we will do that. Ultimately, economic empowerment and job creation are what we focus on through dialogue,” the IT minister said.
He added that Shaw and Pai have long been part of Bengaluru’s growth story. They were members of the Bengaluru Action Task Force since former chief minister SM Krishna’s time and also part of panels across subsequent governments. Calling them strong advocates for Bengaluru, Kharge said the government takes their suggestions seriously.
On whether the social media war hurt Bengaluru’s image as India’s tech capital, Kharge admitted it did. “Any negativity that creeps in hurts, short term or long term. There’s no point in taking things to Twitter; they can come to us directly. We are just a phone call away. They can call and say, ‘Priyank, this is what needs to be done, this can be done,’ and we will implement whatever is practical,” he said.
Kharge questioned whether such government-industry engagement could happen in other states. He challenged, “Can anybody do this in Mumbai? Can anybody do this in UP? Can anybody do this in Tamil Nadu or elsewhere? It’s good that at least they’re coming to us and talking to the government. Let me see any industrialist or technology company speak like this about the Maharashtra government and get away with it.”
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