CP Gurnani, MD & CEO, Tech Mahindra India, talks about climate change and need to look after it, his company's focus and key pillars for growth in 2020 during a candid chat with Swati Khandelwal, Zee Business in Davos (#ZeeBusinessatDavos) on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum. Excerpts:

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Q: World Economic Forum 2020's theme has a special focus on sustainability and the environment. What are your expectations about the theme that is being discussed at Davos?

A: It is the 11th year when I am here at Davos. Sadly, whenever I have a look at its land, now, then it feels that I have reached here during spring. Secondly, if you have a look at the trees across the region then you will find that less snow is visible on them. That's why I think, Davos (#ZeeBusinessatDavos) theme would have been as 'Climatic Emergency' this year. When Great visited the city last year then she was saying that we the seniors owe to her and to that generation that we give them a good and clean planet. I think it has turned up to be an emergency today. This is just not a work of the government - by government, I mean district government, state government, central government as well as the United Nations - because they can bring awareness, law and policy. But the execution is in our hand including the corporates. Besides climate, the other big issue is related to showing awareness at the individual level. 

 

Q: Tech Mahindra is focusing on these things. So, let us know about the kind of technologies on which Tech Mahindra will be involved especially when it comes to environment and awareness?

 

A: The biggest contribution of technology, today, is that you can get real-time information about what is happening at a particular place whether it is toothbrush or shoe or clothes or wearable technology like fit-belt, smartwatch and phones, apple watch among others. Thus, it is very clear that there is no lack of data and information. Secondly, technology provides you Wi-Fi in a cluster and introduction of 5G will provide instant connectivity with no overheads. The third part is what I call it as compute anywhere, i.e. if you have the new spectacle of Bosch then you will find that entire compute is available in it. So, marrying these three things, data, computing anywhere, and artificial intelligence will help us in making instant decisions. 

Q: What are your key pillars for growth in 2020?

A: 5G, 5G and 5G and my first, second and third focus are on the same. As I have said that the island of information & island of execution is present with this connectivity. And, Industry 4.0 was talked about three years ago but powerful connectivity is required to turn it into a reality. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer AI as it has turned into a use case in every vertical. Even our company has worked on it and if we enable them through 5G then we will be able to take not only a pole position but we are also making a difference as a company with a purpose.