Sonia Gandhi heaps praise on Infosys, calls it better than world's best

Gandhi also said the government too made a difference by providing an enabling environment for the growth of the information technology sector in the country.

"It is hard to remember when India was not wired to the world but it was Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who built temples of modern learning and this was followed by the vision of Rajiv Gandhi who realised the potential of communication and provided telephone connections to villages. There was bitter opposition to the introduction of computers as well, but he persisted and his greatest contribution was changing the mindset which resulted in the emergence of Bangalore as the silicon valley of India," Gandhi said.

Earlier, Murthy said that when Infosys was launched in 1981, the founders' belief was that poverty could be eliminated from India only through the power of entrepreneurship.

Infosys was a testimony to that conviction as it had emerged as a model for responsible and transparent business. Visible signs of progress should also be reflected in infrastructure and hence Infosys decided to build the largest single structure in India, he said.

"The Education Centre is a testimony of Infosys' commitment to building the competency of our employees. In 2008-09, more than 16,000 new entrants were trained, and this financial year around 16,000 more are expected to be trained through this program. In addition, special programs have been conducted at the GEC for students from Australia, Bhutan, China, Columbia, Japan, Malaysia, Mauritius, Panama, Thailand, UK and the US," Murthy said.

The GEC-II, located on the sprawling 337 acres Infosys campus in Mysore, has been constructed at a cost of Rs.350 crore. It is the largest single structure to be constructed in post-Independent India with a built-up area of more than 10 lakh sq. ft and can accommodate 9500 trainees in one sitting. Designed by architect Hafiz Contractor and built by Sobha Developers, the facility has seven blocks with eighty four 100-seater, three 200-seater, six 60-seater classrooms, five examination halls and 301 faculty rooms. It also has an induction hall that can seat 300 trainees, a library that can accommodate 80,000 books.