Demonetisation ‘good initiative’: Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan

“He (PM) is also looking for support and we need need to come together and make sure that the negative impact of this is minimised and the issue is addressed as quickly as possible,” he said. Gopalkrishnan said demonetisation is a good initiative to address the issues of black money and terrorist funding, but emphasised the need for strengthening of implementation and rolling out of the move.

“Demonetisation is good initiative taken by the government which will address the issues of black money and terrorist funding, and also help the Indian economy moving completely to digital economy. Of course, the implementation and how it is rolled out needs to be strengthened so that some of the issues related to rural areas and villages are addressed,” he said.

Gopalkrishnan said he was positive about it as both Reserve Bank of India and the Finance Ministry have come together to address the problems. Asked about the concerns raised by the European Union on India’s decision to terminate bilateral investment treaties with 23 European countries, he said there ‘is politics and business around the issue’.

He stressed on the need for the industries to work together with the government to understand the reason for discontinuance of investment treaty pacts with 23 EU countries.

“There is politics and business around this. From a business perspective we want more and more trade. I think we need to work together with the government to understand why this happened and see how this can be resolved,” he said. “I think the future is about a lot more of cooperation across geographical boundaries and nations,” he added.

The EU countries have expressed concern over India’s decision to terminate the bilateral investment treaties. To a question whether he was for bilateral or multi-lateral investment treaty pacts with EU countries, Gopalkrishnan said the industry needs to work within the framework that the governments of the countries decide.

“Well, what we are seeing today is more and more bilateral treaties are happening and sometimes multi-lateral treaties have happened. So we need to work within the framework that the governments decide, but governments and industries should work together to make it happen,” he said.