The government of Karnataka state, home to India's tech hub Bengaluru, has passed a bill that would reserve 50-70% of corporate jobs for locals, which could make it harder for international companies based there to attract talent.

Bengaluru has a population of around 14 million and thousands of Indian start-ups and international companies, from Walmart to Alphabet's Google, operate in this southern Indian metropolis. Infosys and Wipro, two Indian technology giants, are also based in the city.

The draft law, seen by Reuters, requires employers to hire 50% local candidates for management positions and 70% for non-management positions.

The bill must now be approved by the state parliament to come into force.

The bill also requires private companies to hire only locals, colloquially known as “Kannadigas,” for blue-collar jobs, said State Minister M. Siddaramaiah.

“Our government wants Kannadigas not to be deprived of their jobs and to be given an opportunity to build a comfortable life for themselves in the motherland,” Mr Siddaramaiah said in a social media post. (Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee, Haripriya Suresh; additional reporting by Sai Ishwarbharath B, Ashwin Manikandan, Dimpal Gulwani and Nishit Navin; Editing by Aditya Kalra and Christina Fincher)