'City of future!' Infosys' Nandan Nilekani on what makes Bengaluru click

In an interview with Hindustan Times Editor-in-chief Sukumar Ranganathan, Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani said on Thursday that an innovative streak has been in Bengaluru's bloodstream for hundreds of years and the start-up boom is the latest manifestation of this streak. Nilekani said that the work from home system is here to stay as the city sees a new phase of change. Here are some excerpts from the interview.

Q: Is Bengaluru your most favourite city in the world?

A: I’ve lived everywhere in India and aboard but I’m always happy to come back to Bengaluru, which was recently voted the most livable city in the country. Yes, it is my favourite city.

Q: So, do you agree with the ranking in the ease of living? Because a lot of people, in Bengaluru, don’t agree with it.

A: Every city has its strengths and weaknesses. It is never perfect, but when I look at the totality of what is possible, I still look at it as the best city to live in.

Q: One person, who felt very passionately about this, said that it is not because Bengaluru is very good, but all other cities are very bad.

A: It could be so because it is relative. When you look at the weather, the people in the city, the facilities and others -- like having one of the best airports in India -- all of it makes Bengaluru very livable. Things can be much better everywhere, but we have to live with what we have.

Q: You have watched Bengaluru grow over a period of time and it was a fascinating evolution to watch. So, where do you think Bengaluru is in its evolutionary journey?

A: One of the big things in recent years has been the development of the metro. We are seeing the metro network – even though it is not as comprehensive and sophisticated as Delhi – is getting rolled out. For example, Electronic City, where many of the tech companies, including Infosys, is getting connected to the metro network. As the metro spreads out, mass transit becomes easier and it would take some pressure off from the roads. Traffic here has been a matter of concern. So, you can see the upswing and see a lot of road work going on.

Also read: Bengaluru has public-spiritedness - Nandan Nilekani on HT Dialogues

Q: What makes Bengaluru click? Since it has topped the ease of living index, people insist it is the best city to live in and is the innovation hub. What makes Bengaluru work?

A: It always had a history of innovation and contribution by forward-looking visionaries. We have two great parks in Bengaluru – Lal Bagh and Cubbon Park. The Lal Bagh was developed in 1760 by Hyder Ali, who felt the need to create the need Mughal garden in the south. Cubbon Park was set up by the British in 1870. Both went to create green lungs in the middle of the city. It was forwarding looking to think of these things in 1760 and 1870.

It has always been the hub of innovation. If you look at the early part of the 20th century, Bengaluru was the first city to get electric light on a street. In 1904, there was an electric pole set up in KR Market because Maharaja (Krishnaraja Wadiyar) had set up a power plant in Shivasamudram to provide electricity to the Kolar Gold Field to mine gold. That line ran through Bengaluru and they decided to take bypass from that to provide electricity to Bengaluru. So, Bengaluru became the first city in India, in 1905, to get electricity.

In 1909, Jamsetji Tata and the Maharaja got together to set up the Indian Institute of Science, a forward-looking science university for it and it still the best science university in the country.

The Maharaja brought in German botanist Hermann Krumbiegel in 1908, who not only developed Lal Bagh but also came up with the idea of serial blooming, which meant that different trees would bloom in the city at different times.

If you look at it, all these people were way ahead of their time, thinking about parks, electricity and universities. So, the innovative streak has been in the city’s bloodstream for hundreds of years and what you are seeing is the latest manifestation of that -- the reinventions in terms of start-ups.

Just like Silicon Valley (in the USA), once you have a culture where you attract good talent, people like to live there, there are good schools and college and you create that critical mass of people, then magic happens.

Q: In this evolutionary journey, it is important to look at the Texas instrument setting up base in Bengaluru.

Bengaluru was the place where Walchand Hirachand set up the first aircraft manufacturing plant in 1940, in the pre-independence era, which became Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL). Post-independence, many top research labs were set up in India. Several public electronic manufacturing companies -- like ITI (Indian Telecom Industries), BEL (Bharat Electronics Limited)-- were set up in Bengaluru. The strong public sector presence led to private sector manufacturing.

Remote software development was again invented in Bengaluru which led to the growth of the IT industry, which today is close to 190 billion dollars in size. That again created huge technology, which then attracted more capital units and that in turn brought in the VCs (venture capitalists) who brought young talent from these companies.

Q: Following the pandemic, work from home is the new trend and some say it is going to be around indefinitely. Do you think it will lessen the pressure on Bengaluru to some extent?

A: Work from home is here to stay. I think it's to the credit of the Indian IT industry that they managed to take millions of people and may get them to work from home in a matter of four to six weeks. For example, at Infosys, 2,40,000 employees across 40 countries move to work from home in three weeks, because they have the technology infrastructure to do so.

So, I think work from home has a fundamental impact. Obviously, we do want to go back to work in offices because of the value of meeting people, the serendipity, the ideas, the innovation requires people working together. But one thought is that to have a system of two-thirds going to the office on any given day while the remaining one-third works from home.

But fundamentally, this is good news because this will reduce the pressure on the commute and traffic. This ultimate hybrid model of working from home using collaboration tools, where some people are physically together, and some are remote is the way of the future.

Q: This will probably make Bengaluru even more livable? Because one thing that everyone in Bengaluru likes to talk about is the traffic.

A: Yes, the traffic will get much more evened out because people are at home on a given day. Secondly, as I said, there's pretty fast progress happening on the metro network. When the metro reaches a certain network effect, the usage will take off. I think we will achieve such a network in Bengaluru Metro in a couple of years and then you will see that fewer people will drive to work.

Q: Let's come to the negative side, what do you think are the main issues in Bengaluru, what do you think are the real pain points in Bengaluru?

A: The infrastructure will always be behind, and roadwork will continue all the time. Also, I think we need to address the inequality issues because, Bengaluru has a large number of migrants, not necessarily IT professionals. So, they still want the quality of life which is not that great, they live in slums, and that should be addressed. So, I think inequality need to be addressed in a big way.

Q: Bengaluru has been a place that has attracted people from outside regions. A lot of people move in and then make it their home. How does the culture evolve through all this? What is the culture of Bengaluru?

A: If you think of the fact that the first large public garden was set up in 1760, it will be clear that Bengaluru is a city that has been around for a few 100 years. It is also a capital city, so it's firmly ensconced.

It's also a very cosmopolitan city. When the British built cantonment, many people came in from the different states. Many more migrated when the public sector boom happened in Bengaluru. During this time, Bengaluru has reinvented itself for the future.

Q: If you could change some things about Bengaluru to make it a better city for business or to make it a better city to live in, what are the three or four things that you would change?

A: It would be to fix public transportation. The key to Mumbai's greatness has been its fast trains and Delhi has an extraordinary metro system that connects the National Capital Region.

That's why I keep harping on this. I think the combination of the metro, the bus system and suburban rail would make a big difference.

Q: Let's talk about education. One of the things that I think Delhi has got right is its school system right now. There has been a lot of work that's happened there. And I think the effects are becoming visible. How well do you think the Karnataka school system is run? Do you think that that is one of the probable failings of the city?

A: No, I don't think so. I think they are doing a good job. It is just that Delhi experiments have got a lot of visibility, but there's a lot of good work happening in the public schools in Karnataka. But Covid-19 has made a big impact. Because people who can't afford devices can't get online working at home. It has been a big setback. And I have mentioned, when it comes to higher education, may it be the IIMs, IIT or IISc Bengaluru is a big education hub.

Q: There has been an increase in the number of institutes of higher learning that have come up in the last few years in Bengaluru. Do you think that at this point, Bengaluru can stake claim to being the intellectual capital of this country?

A: In some areas. In technology, Artificial Intelligence, general sciences, urban studies, I think Bengaluru is the leader. But in terms of thinktanks, Delhi has a more developed system, partly because it is the capital city.