Meeting Kris Gopalakrishnan is always fun. Soft spoken, gentle and unassuming, right? Wrong. There are some visible changes now, and it does not take too long to figure the transformation. This time he is much less reserved and willing to comment on issues even outside software?assertive and willing to call a spade, a spade. Some interesting remarks rolled out on the FDI-in-retail logjam and Kapil Sibal?s censorship moves.

?There is nothing to fear,? he says, referring to the Centre?s indecision and delaying tactics on FDI in retail. ?Indian corporates across sectors?telecom, IT and even automobiles?know that they can compete and win against MNCs. Indian businessmen are very competitive and will devise ways to take them on. There is no need to be worried about foreign competition.?

Kris would obviously know. He and his team-mates take on IBM and Oracle?s star studded sales operations day in and day out. But UP polls and election politics are something that Kris, obviously, does not worry about. UPA has no such luxuries and FDI in retail is in abeyance.

He also had something to say about Sibal. ?We have to be careful about going the censorship route. I do understand that one has to be watchful about any comments that would religious sentiments etc. But one cannot stop people from expressing their thoughts.?

Usually Kris does not spend too much on matters outside software, but after having assumed the role of co-chairman at Infosys, he has stepped up a gear. ?Tell me an industry which provides jobs globally? It is the Indian IT sector. We are providing jobs everywhere. We want to hire overseas talent locally. That?s something we always emphasise.?

Kris says the year 2011 was not a roller-coaster ride. ?The industry has been growing at 16-18% and as Nasscom president Som Mittal rightly said that?s good going. There is no problem on the growth rate front.? He says the government could do something to simplify the existing tax structure. ?The budget next year could help on that count. The current system is tough for start-ups and emerging players.?

Here?s looking forward to the next meeting with him.

Kapil under a social cloud

Kapil Sibal does not like social media, much unlike Shashi Tharoor who loved it too much and paid the price. Too much of provocative content out there, Kapil feels. Shashi on the other hand used to love it for the very same reason.

Online sensorship is a funny track to take. Such a move will only do more harm than good. The medium?s lifeline is fearless self-expression. Without that freedom social media amounts to nothing. Stockbroker Rakesh Jhunjhunwala tweeted, ?Don?t think Sibal even understands the internet. This happens when you make a lawyer an IT minister. Like hiring Mayawati for an item song.?

Saving private Mark

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg?s private photos leaked on his own social media platform but it has not brought the roof down. No exciting stuff there. All one could see was Mark cooking (making some sushi) and spending time with his puppy.

The company has blamed a software error in a feature that lets users report inappropriate content. The error was fixed before too long. It has not been announced how many users were impacted due to the error.