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India Is Still 'Far, Far Away From Smart Cities,' Says Narayana Murthy

Reality Check?
N.R. Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys
Bloomberg via Getty Images
N.R. Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys

Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy today said the country was "far, far away" from realising the ambition of developing smart cities, a flagship programme of theNarendra Modi government.

"Since we are far, far away from smart cities, I did not talk about it," Murthy said, when asked why he did not mention the smart city project during his one-hour lecture on 'City Systems' here this evening.

"I am a doer, I am not just a talker," he said and asked the audience to visit Infosys's campus in Mysore to have a taste of what a smart city can be.

Earlier in the lecture, organised by JSW Literature Live, Murthy also came down heavily on the lack of infrastructure in cities.

"Poor infrastructure can drive away investments and talent," he said, and pointed out how Mumbai has suffered due to this continued neglect.

"10 or 12 years ago, the desire was to position Mumbai as the Asian financial centre. We are nowhere near that dream for the very simple reason that investments are not coming in, talents are not simply available, productivity has gone down and growth has slowed down.

"We are still placing bandaids when there is a deeper cancer to be cured," he said.

The government should not compare our cities with those in the developed world, but should look at the emerging market peers like Brazil, Indonesia and Malaysia which are taking great efforts to make cities better, Murthy said.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.