Just when West Bengal had started boasting of industrial developments augmented
by an emerging IT sector, life was brought to a standstill owing to yet another
24-hour bandh called by trade union major Center of Indian Trade Unions (CITU)
on Aug 20.
Despite efforts by Buddhadeb Bhattacharya the Chief Minister of West Bengal,
to keep Salt Lake IT hub out of the purview of the bandh by maintaining a strict
vigil on the sector, CITU did not hesitate to assault employees on their way to
Sector V.
Even then, braving the situation, there was a considerable presence of the
workforce in Sector V with IT majors like Wipro, Genpact and Acclaris risking
having their employees report to office. “The CM gave us his word that the IT
sector would be treated specially. Today we saw that he kept his word. With some
of our employees spending the night at office the previous day, around 60
percent of our workforce turned up for work,” said Kalyan Kar, MD, Acclaris
(India).
Contrary to the IT service industry, IT retail was hit the hardest this time
with nearly all IT retail outlets remaining closed all day. “No one dares to
stand up against CITU and must abide by their decision. There has been a total
shutdown in Siliguri and everywhere in north Bengal with the entire state
remaining closed,” commented Gitesh Tibrewal, Logic Fusion (Siliguri).
However, it is Kolkata that is bearing the brunt of the bandh. With estimated
loses crossing crores of rupees, trading across all sectors was halted.
Analyzing the situation in Kolkata, Nawaid Iqbal, Manager-Administration, SMB
Solutions, Kolkata said, “Every now and then, Kolkata faces some bandh or the
other which results in huge loses. Generally, during this time of the year major
IT projects are undertaken, with the festive mood setting in. A major bandh at
this point in time not only directly impacts the IT retail business, it also
tarnishes the image of the state.”
“We have undertaken key projects in Bengal, some of which are still in
bidding stage with tenders floating in the market now. Due to the bandh, not
only has the bidding and tendering process been affected adversely, we have lost
over Rs 2 crore of sales revenue,” he emphasized.
While major IT giants are looking to invest in the state, this situation
threatens to spoil the party. Capgemini already announced plans to increase
their employee base in its Kolkata facility to 2,000; HCL is planning to recruit
another 1,200 engineering staff and Wipro and IBM are planning major investments
in the upcoming SEZ in Rajarhat. If the bandhs keep up the CM's drive to
industrialize Bengal may come to an end with some of the emerging companies
particularly in the SMB segment deciding to withdraw their operations from
Bengal.
Alkesh Agarwal, CEO, Re-feel Cartridge Engineering, a cartridge enterprise
with its head-office in Kolkata said, “This bandh has tarnished the national
image of Bengal. I have never seen a bandh like this in 10 years; every sector
of the state came to a standstill and life was crippled. Being a company
headquartered in Kolkata, our after-sales support and logistics chain came to a
standstill, thereby angering our franchisees across India. Post the series of
bandhs, many companies may either think of pulling out of Bengal or shifting
their head-offices to some other state in India.”
Logistics support, one of the crucial elements for IT retail, has also
suffered at the hands of CITU. In south Kolkata, about 50 bandh supporters
allegedly ransacked a logistics support office damaging materials worth over Rs
70,000. This brought the entire logistic support industry in Kolkata to a halt.
However, in western and extreme eastern parts of the state, IT logistics did not
suffer as badly as it did in the heart of the state.