Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw on job reservation for locals: 'Companies will give preference to...'

Founder and chairperson of Biocon, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, has been vocal about policies and their impact on the industries in Karnataka.

Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has spoken out against states imposing job reservations for local workers, stating that companies should focus on skills first otherwise, such government decisions would have a negative impact on businesses. The comments were made after an X user questioned Mazumdar-Shaw's silence on reservation for locals and shared an RTI document obtained from the Andhra Pradesh government in 2019 in which the government stated that 75 percent of the workers in the state industries must be locals.

"I do not agree with this mandate," she said. "I always believe that companies will give preference to locals if they have the required skills. If not, then such policies are detrimental to businesses."

Mazumdar-Shaw was, however, countered by a few social media users who asked that, since the government permitted industries to hire "elligible local people", why should industry leaders still favour migrant workers.

"Rules only tells you to hire 75 percent locals, natives. It didn't reduce any qualifications for locals," said one X user. "We have given all the incentives for your company so we are asking 75 percent jobs for locals. Why should locals compete with migrants to get a job in their home states?"

But, in 2020, the Andhra Pradesh High Court had observed that 75 percent quota for locals in government and private jobs may be unconstitutional. Moreover, even the Supreme Court had earlier asserted that the 75 per cent quota for locals in industries or factories is illegal.

'As a tech hub, we need skilled talent'

The billionaire industry leader had earlier also spoken up against job reservation in Karnataka. Last July, as the state cabinet approved a draft bill mandating 50 percent reservation for locals in management jobs, 70 percent in non-management categories, Mazumdar-Shaw called for an exemption of highly-skilled labour from the policy.

She added that the Karnataka government's move could affect Bengaluru's position as the leading tech city in the country. "As a tech hub, we need skilled talent," she wrote on X. "And whilst the aim is to provide jobs for locals we must not affect our leading position in technology by this move. There must be caveats that exempt highly skilled recruitment from this policy."