Summit Notebook

Technology giants this year have been encroaching on one another’s markets, buying up companies as they try to become one-stop shops for computing, networking and data storage, but Infosys still hasn’t jumped on the bandwagon.

Infosys Technologies Chief Financial Officer V. Balakrishnan compared acquisitions to “falling in love,” saying that one does not generally know when or how it will happen. When we asked about who Infosys was dating, Balakrishnan was noncommittal.

Speaking of love, Infosys is one of the few companies that had a dating allowance for employees, and Cupid’s arrows have been bang on target in the company’s campuses. Balakrishnan wouldn’t tell us whether the allowance has returned with the improved economic climate.

He did seem to support the idea of mid-20-something employees falling in love and tying the knot. Information technology has played a role in removing barriers imposed by the caste system in India, Balakrishnan said.

Maybe the Indian government can take a cue from the information technology giant and look for innovative ways to solve India’s centuries-old caste-related problems?