'Shame': PhonePe Founder Sameer Nigam Joins The Chorus Against Karnataka's 100% Private Sector Reservation

The controversy surrounding Karnataka's bill reserving 100 per cent of the private sector is refusing to cool down. The bill was approved by the state cabinet led by the Chief Minister of the state, Siddaramaiah and his deputy, DK Shivkumar.

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Ever since then, the pot of discourse on the matter has been boiling. Many in the business ecosystem have expressed their disillusionment.

This included the likes of former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai, along with Biocon boss Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and countless other netizens.

New voices have only joined the chorus against the bill. Payment service entity PhonePe founder and CEO Sameer Nigam was the latest of all to express their deep discontent with the move.

Nigam took to his personal account to make a rare comment on the matter. Nigam said, "I am 46 years old. Never lived in a state for 15+ yrs My father worked in the Indian Navy. Got posted all over the country. His kids don't deserve jobs in Karnataka?"

Apart from sighting his own case and the conundrums facing a defense family, Nigam also laid emphasis on his role in building the larger system, that government intends to use to its advantage by reserving jobs for locals.

He added, "I build companies. Have created 25000+ jobs across India! My kids don't deserve jobs in their home city? Shame."

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In response to the question of whether Bangalore will lose its prominence in the Tech paradigm, he said, "I don't think so. I truly hope not. Bangalore is a lovely city! Fact is that Bangalore has contributed massively to the state exchequer, which in turn funds a lot of Karnataka's overall state development and GDP."

The bill, which was approved by the cabinet, would establish a 50 per cent reservation for 'Kannadigas' in management jobs. In addition, 'Kannadigas' will also have 75 per cent of reservations in non-management categories.

Later in the day, yesterday, the CM reportedly deleted a post that spoke about the reservation and the government has put the bill on hold and will reportedly review the bill.