The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCC&I) has taken an initiative to set up a smart city for business analytics in West Bengal. The State Government, which is supportive of the idea, has tentatively identified a location near Kalyani, about 51 km north of here, for the project.

Ambarish Dasgupta, president elect of BCC&I and Head Management of Consulting at KPMG Advisory Services, said here, “We have been talking to the State Government for project land. It has suggested that 250 acres could be made available for the project in that area”.

At a business analytics summit on Wednesday, he said initial studies have been made on the concept. The Chamber was now moving towards formation of a registered society to take the idea forward. The project would involve the service providers, their corporate consumers, education institutions such as IIT Kharagpur, the Indian Statistical Institute, Bengal Engineering University, Jadavpur University, and the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, as well as financial and real estate market players.

The economic model for the project would be given shape in consultation with stakeholders.

Such a project, according to Kallol Datta, the outgoing president of the Chamber, is expected to attract investments worth Rs 5,000 crore and generate a few thousands of employment.

Amit Mitra, the State’s Finance and Industry Minister, indicated that availability of land would not be a problem for the project.

Talking to reporters, he said the State Government-proposed eight software hubs were “almost ready.”  The State has also proposed two hardware parks in the State.​

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