The Hindu Business Line : Bengal to provide more sops for IT, ITES sector

ANIMATED PARLEYS: Dr Debesh Das, West Bengal Minister for IT, and Dr Robert Atkinson, President, IT and Innovation Foundation, Washington DC, at an interactive session of CII in Kolkata on Wednesday. — A. Roy Chowdhury

Kolkata , Dec. 13

The West Bengal Government will soon sweeten the package of incentives that is available to investors in IT and ITES sector.

In addition to the capital subsidy and interest subsidy, the Government plans to introduce a training subsidy that will subsidise costs incurred by employers in training their employees and equipping the latter with appropriate skills.

The proposed training subsidy, which can go up to Rs 20,000 per employee, is expected to help bridge the demand-supply gap in the availability of manpower with skills appropriate for the IT and ITES sector, according to Dr Debesh Das, West Bengal's Minister for Information Technology.

Speaking at a session on `The new economy: Implications for the developing world, including India' organised here today by the Confederation of Indian Industry (Eastern Region), Dr Das said the State Government was also considering a waiver of stamp duty "in some cases" on property purchased by IT and ITES companies in the State.

Venture capital funding

According to him, the State Government had allotted Rs 15 crore for venture capital funding for IT start-ups that focus on innovative technologies and products that could be patented.

West Bengal was currently focused on attracting companies that were engaged in high-technology areas.

Hitherto, investments in the IT and ITES sector in the State have been dominated in labour-intensive areas, such as business process outsourcing outfits and call centres.

The number of people engaged in the IT and ITES sector in West Bengal is expected to go up from around 42,000 at present to 2,00,000 within the next three years, he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Robert Atkinson, President, IT and Innovation Foundation, Washington DC, said it was imperative for India at this stage to invest in R&D and improve productivity in the ITES sector.

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