BENGALURU: Ever wondered how businessman Senapathy Gopalakrishnan from Thiruvananthapuram became Kris Gopalakrishnan? The story goes back to the year 1977 when he was a student at the Indian Institute of Technology – Madras.
“While doing my M.Tech between Rs 75 and Rs 79, my username at the computer centre had to be Kris because Gopal was already taken. Gopi, Krishnan, Krish were taken too, so I got Kris. Then my friends started calling me Kris and when I went to the USA, it became Kris Gopalkrishnan,” laughs the billionaire businessman.
Gopalkrishnan, who along with Rohini Nilekani and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, recently donated Rs 51 crore to the Science Gallery, strongly believes that research, innovation and entrepreneurship are required for the growth of the economy. “That’s where new ideas, products, businesses and high growth companies come from. As India becomes a developed economy, we need to have our own products,” he adds with enthusiasm.
The other reason for his keen interest in science and technology is his hope that it will become more affordable if developed in India. “We have to have a very strong research base in India. The government is spending money on research but they could spend more. However, the private sector, including philanthropists, must play a much bigger role in funding,” he says, adding,
“We should disrupt the healthcare and mobility space. I believe it is happening to an extent. For example, we need to have our own battery technology, we need to have next-generation fuel technology. That’s the reason why I am interested in research. I must put money where my mouth is.” Personally, he is currently supporting research studies being conducted on the brain at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and IIT-Madras.
Three decades ago, Gopalkrishnan, along with six others, became one of the founding fathers of Infosys, which changed the destiny of the IT landscape. But looking back, he can see how situations have changed. “When Infosys was started in 1981, there was no internet, no social media, no mobile phone, no venture capital. Entrepreneurship was there, but there was no company by a first generation entrepreneur, which could claim to be globally competitive,” says Gopalkrishnan, adding that the situation is quite different now with India transforming into a digital economy. “Today, entrepreneurs are competitive. And the credit goes partly to our generation of founders for instilling that sense of confidence in some sense,” he says, adding that the IT industry is $220 billion dollars with 5 million employees.
Apart from co-founding a multi-national company, a startup and funding science research in India, Gopalkrishnan is like any of us. He loves reading and travelling with his family . “I am interested in watching cricket, and now, of course, football. I don’t have a favourite team but I like watching a good match when Germany or France plays. I listen to music, especially when I am on a flight. But I don’t have time to go to concerts,” he says, adding that the key way of dealing with stress is to work towards it.
Billionaire businessman and philanthropist Kris Gopalkrishnan recently cofinanced the Science Gallery with Rs 51 crore. In a candid conversation with CE, he speaks about his interest in science, his Infy days and his secret behind dealing with stress