Bengal invites investors

Despite being a late bloomer in wooing IT investment, West
Bengal has more than made up for its laggard start.

The state is trying its best to shirk the old perceptions and
investor fears of being an industry-hostile state and is going all out to woo IT
companies.

In 2000, the state created the IT department, and two years
later, introduced the IT and ITES policy. Publicizing the state's new face in
India and abroad through road shows helped in dispelling perceptions.

"Talent or infrastructure is not the issue for us, but
perception is. We are telling people to go by reality and not by
perceptions," said Dr Gyan Dutt Gautama, principal secretary (IT),
Government of West Bengal.

He said the state is well equipped with sufficient
infrastructure, power and resources and reassures that a Bangalore-like
infrastructure problem would not arise in Kolkata.

"We are becoming one of the most favored IT hubs not
just in India, but also in Asia," said Manab Mukherjee, West Bengal
Minister for IT and environment. The state boasts of 235 IT companies including
TCS, IBM, Wipro, Cognizant Technology Services, NIIT and Price Waterhouse
Coopers.

Advantage West Bengal

Other companies willing to invest in the state include GECIS, Hinduja TMT,
Mahindra-British Telecom, ICICI OneSource, CapGemini, Dell and Accenture. Apple
plans to have manufacturing facilities in the state while IT major Infosys is
evaluating plans for a development center here.

For a communist dominated state where industry investment
once seemed an oxymoron, it has truly come a long way. "We have been
rebuilding our image and now Bengal is sporting a new look," quipped
Mukherjee at Infocom 2005. And West Bengal's advantages? "Good talent,
low cost of operations, adequate power and infrastructure support," said Dr
Gautama. He added that the state offers 12 percent cost advantage over other IT
hubs in India.

The state has around 50 engineering colleges and premier
academic institutions like IIT Kharagpur, IIM Kolkata, Jadavpur University and
BE College, Shibpur. Mukherjee said that the next Indian Institute of Science is
slated to come up in Kolkata.

The Salt Lake area in Kolkata that houses around 160
companies has grown to become the prominent IT hub in the city. The West Bengal
government recently statutorily declared the area an industrial township - a
first in India.

Besides Salt Lake, the government is planning 13 IT parks
with 13.3 million square feet office space in the next 30 months.

The Government is also trying to create IT hubs in four
cities besides Kolkata - Durgapur, Kharagpur, Haldia and Siliguri. While
Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) has set up its presence in the first
two cities, Haldia and Siliguri will have STPI in 2006.

West Bengal's current IT exports are around Rs 2200 crore
and make up for around 5.2 per cent of the national software exports. The
Government is planning to boost this to 15 per cent by 2010.

Kudos for the State's proactive and positive IT stand came
from NASSCOM president Kiran Karnik at the Infocom event, when he said that West
Bengal could be considered as a role-model for other States.

Priya Padmanabhan, Kolkata, Dec 22

(CyberMedia News)