By Hritam Mukherjee and Haripriya Suresh
BENGALURU (Reuters) – The state government of Karnataka, home to India’s tech hub Bengaluru, has approved a bill mandating 50%-70% jobs for locals in companies, a move that could make it harder for global firms operating there to attract talent.
Bengaluru is home to about 14 million people, and thousands of Indian startups and international firms ranging from Walmart to Alphabet’s Google operate from the metropolitan city in south India. Infosys and Wipro – two Indian tech giants – also operate from the city.
The draft bill, seen by Reuters, directs employers to hire 50% of local candidates in management jobs and 70% in non-management jobs.
The bill will now need clearance of state legislature to become law.
The bill also makes it mandatory for privately-owned industries to hire 100 percent locals, colloquially known as “Kannadigas”, in blue collar jobs – ones that involve manual labour, said state chief minister Siddaramaiah.
“It is our government’s wish that the Kannadigas should avoid being deprived of jobs … and should be given an opportunity to build a comfortable life in the motherland,” said a social media post by Siddaramaiah.
(Reportign by Hritam Mukherjee Haripriya Suresh; Additional reporting by Sai Ishwarbharath B, Ashwin Manikandan, Dimpal Gulwani and Nishit Navin; Editing by Aditya Kalra and Christina Fincher)
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