Gateway of India

Hyderabad:
10 November 2002

Gates will be in India from 11 to 14 November; he is scheduled to visit New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Though he is leading a foundation delegation, his visit is being closely watched by the global IT and business fraternity.

The Microsoft chairman is likely to meet Indian President A P J Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Communications and IT Minister Pramod Mahajan during his stay. Besides the government heads, he will meet a number of business leaders, including Infosys Technologies chairman and chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy and Wipro chairman Azim Premji.

Meeting “Naidu in Hyderabad” is one important agenda in Gates’ itinerary. In September 1998, Gates had promised Naidu that he would visit Hyderabad when Naidu called on Gates during his visit to the US to promote Andhra as a favoured IT destination.

CEO reminisces chairman
Naidu recalls his meeting with Gates in the US: “I first met Gates some years ago; nobody was trying to meet him at that time. And Hyderabad was nowhere on the scene, particularly in IT. At that time, I sought a meeting with him and company officials asked me to meet him at a cocktail dinner. I said I wanted an exclusive meeting with him for 10 minutes. The US ambassador arranged the meeting and I spent 40 minutes with Gates.”

Let’s come back to the story. To finalise Gates’ schedule in Hyderabad, Microsoft India managing director Rajiv Nair met Naidu in Hyderabad recently. Company officials say Microsoft India is likely to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Andhra Pradesh government on the state’s education initiatives.

Curiously, Gates’ visit is just a month ahead of Microsoft India’s much-hyped ‘Tablet PC’ launch, in December 2002. The Tablet PC allows users to work with a pen instead of a keyboard. Though the launch date is yet to be finalised, the software major is demonstrating exclusive previews to its distributors and channel partners in India.