E-Paper
Chandrababu Naidu persuaded Bill Gates for Microsoft's Hyderabad office in just 40 minutes
During the AP AgTech Summit in 2017, Chandrababu Naidu recalled how he managed to get an appointment with Bill Gates in the late 1990s.
TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu is set to be sworn today as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh for a fourth term. The swearing-in ceremony will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief J P Nadda, among other leaders. Amit Shah posted on X (formerly Twitter), “Met the Chief Minister-designate of Andhra Pradesh, Shri @ncbn Garu in Vijayawada and congratulated him on the NDA's massive victory. Looking forward to attending the oath-taking ceremony tomorrow.”
Chandrababu Naidu first became the CM of the undivided Andhra in 1995. The politician has also been credited for making Hyderabad a technology hub by convincing Bill Gates for a Microsoft's office in the city. During the AP AgTech Summit in 2017, Chandrababu Naidu recalled how he managed to get an appointment with Bill Gates in the late 1990s.
“Gates was in New Delhi on some work. I contacted the officials of the United States for an appointment. They told me that he was very busy, and that if I was keen I could attend a cocktail party in the evening,” he said.
“I made a presentation through a laptop and I was the first Indian politician to do so,” he claimed. The appointment with Bill Gates was supposed to last 10 minutes but the Microsoft founder ended up spending 40 minutes with Chandrababu Naidu.
Read more: Melinda French Gates on leaving foundation she began with Bill Gates: ‘I received this advice’
Bill Gates then told him that whenever Microsoft wished to open their centre outside of the US, they would consider Chandrababu Naidu’s request.
“Not only Microsoft opened its development centre in Hyderabad but Satya Nadella who is from our place became Microsoft CEO,” he said.
Read more: Bill Gates calls this book a ‘must read’: Blueprint for a ‘humane way of living’
Bill Gates also shared details of this meeting and said, “I was told that there is someone who believes in digital technology even more than you do. It was hard to believe but when we met, he had his digital equipment – computer – and he had the vision to make the government better by using advanced tools."
The Microsoft India Development Centre was set up in Hyderabad in 1998.
