The Hindu Business Line : West Bengal pitches for IT in Bangalore

IT IS BENGAL: Dr Debesh Das, Minister for IT, West Bengal, and Mr Siddharth, IT Secretary, addressing a meet at the Bangalore IT. in 2006. — G R N Somashekar

Bangalore , Oct. 28

Bangalore's loss could be Kolkata's gain. Promising better infrastructure and supply of good talent, West Bengal, relatively a newcomer in the IT sector was seen aggressively wooing investment from hi-end technology firms at BangaloreIT.in 2006.

Mr Debesh Das, Minister for IT, West Bengal, told a press conference that his State was keen to invite investments from technology firms in areas of semi-conductor/VLSI design and wireless mobility, among others.

"We are meeting officials of several firms, including Texas Instruments, Cadence, Intel and Synopsys, and have asked them to consider setting up their second centres in Kolkata," Mr Das said. The State is also keen to invite hardware manufacturing companies, he said.

Faced with problems of non-availability of land, increasing wage pressure and scramble for talent, majority of the IT firms in Bangalore are looking at other cities to expand their operations.

Firms such as Infosys Technologies, Wipro and ITC Infotech, have already approached seeking land to set up operations.

"We are in the process of acquiring some 1,000 acres of land near the Kolkata airport and expect to provide land to these firms within this fiscal," Mr Das said.

Infosys has sought 100 acres, while Wipro and TCS have asked for 50 acres each.

Further, Mr Das also said his State aimed at increasing its share in the country's total IT exports to 15 per cent by 2011. At present, West Bengal with exports of over Rs 3,000 crore accounts for about 3-4 per cent of total IT exports. "We aim to grow our exports at over 100 per cent in the next five years," he said.

Mr Siddharth, IT Secretary, said the State was also keen to develop STPI facilities at Haldia, Durgapur, Kharagpur and Siliguri.

Public utility status

West Bengal, Mr Das said, has declared IT as a public utility service and the move to bring in unionism in IT sector would not have any impact on the investments. "We are not opposing the promotion of IT unions, but it depends on the employees to join them," he said.

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