Black paint smeared on Biocon board after Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw opposes Karnataka job Bill. Video

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said that the Karnataka job reservation bill will affect Bengaluru's position as the leading tech city.

Name boards of Biocon were defaced by unidentified people days after company's founder and chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw called for an exemption of highly-skilled labour from the proposed job quota policy in Karnataka. A video, which was widely shared on social media, showed a man dressed in black applying black spray paint on at least two Biocon name boards.

A video, which was widely shared on social media, showed a man dressed in black applying black spray paint on at least two Biocon name boards.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw earlier said that the job reservation Bill would affect Bengaluru's position as the leading tech city in the country as she called for the exemption of highly-skilled labour from the policy. The Bill mandates 50 per cent reservation for locals in management jobs and 70 per cent in non-management categories.

She wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "As a tech hub, we need skilled talent. 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."

The implementation of the Bill has been delayed by the Karnataka government following massive backlash. Karnataka chief minister's office said in a statement, “The bill intended to implement reservation for Kannadigas in private sector institutions, industries and enterprises is still in the preparation stage. A final decision will be taken after comprehensive discussion in the next cabinet meeting.”