Gaining Ground

While the traditional IT strongholds like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and

Maharashtra top the charts, the first DQ-IDC e-readiness survey says that

second-tier states like West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh are rapidly gaining

ground. The Survey using socio-economic indicators shortlisted 14 states which

were then evaluated on the basis of 13 factors categorized into four broad sets

including business/market performance-primarily reflected by exports of STPI

registered units, educational facilities and infrastructure, physical and social

infrastructure, and ICT infrastructure. The composite scores obtained were used

to arrive at a relative ranking of states such that each state could be plotted

on a life-cycle stage curve thus taking into account the stage of maturity and

the size of IT industry. Read on to find out how West Bengal fared after making

it to the elite list.

A year ago, investors were doing a wait and watch. Today, it's action time.

West Bengal's effort to transform the 'Red' image to a capitalist image is

paying rich dividends. And how serious is West Bengal? While bandhs continue but

are becoming a non affair for IT/BPO companies which are under the Essential

Services Act and employees are promised security.

No wonder, today West Bengal, read Kolkata, boasts of having all the big

ticket companies, ranging from Wipro and TCS on the IT side to GE and Wipro

Spectramind on the BPO side. Interestingly, with this quick development,

software professionals who had left the city for greener pastures are returning

to take up jobs.

A word of caution. While the going is good, the government should seriously

look at developing alternate hubs such as Kharagpur, Durgapur, etc which can

take the additional load, once Kolkatta moves the Bangalore/Mumbai way. Else,

history has an uncanny way of saying 'Hi I am back'.

Source: Dataquest