The Adani group has proposed to invest Rs 8,000 crore to develop a state-of-the-art data centre at Rajarhat, creating about 3,000 direct and indirect jobs. The unit, which will be powered by renewable energy sources, is going to be ready in three years.
On Monday, the Mamata Banerjee-government announced the allotment of 51.75-acres to Adani Enterprises. This is the single largest allotment of land in the Silicon Valley Hub coming up at Rajarhat, eclipsing the 40 acres to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio three years back.
State government sources said Adani would shell out Rs 240 crore, which will work out to Rs 4.3 crore an acre.
The decision to allot the land was taken at a state cabinet meeting and announced by industry minister Partha Chatterjee at the Assembly later. The land is being given on a 99-year lease, he informed.
In April, Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group, had come down to Calcutta to attend the Bengal Global Business Summit and announced his intent to invest in various sectors of the state, including a data centre. He had then proposed an investment of Rs 10,000 crore in Bengal over a decade.
It now appears the Adani group’s investment commitment could top what was announced in April if some of the pending projects in the logistics and infrastructure spaces work out.
In 2019, Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd, had attended the fifth edition of BGBS where he announced a slew of projects for Bengal, including a data centre. Thanking the state for the land allotment, he had then assured to develop a state-of-the-art data centre and promised to make it as good as the ones in Silicon Valley, California.
The concept of developing an exclusive zone for IT companies was floated in 2018 and the government had then sought expression of interest from IT firms. A land parcel of 100 acre was earmarked for the tech zone.
Apart from Reliance Jio, TCS, India’s largest software firm by revenue and market capitalisation, had sought a 20 acre land in the Hub as well. IT firm Capgemini and Firstsource Solutions also sought land.
Seeing the interest from IT firms, the government decided to expand the land parcel by another 100 acres later that year.
Cycle park
The Mamata Banerjee-government also announced the development of a cycle park at Vidyasagar Industrial Park in Kharagpur. Four companies are being allotted 5 acre each to set up cycle manufacturing units, minister Chatterjee announced.
Investment in the first phase is going to be around Rs 50 crore creating jobs for around 600 skilled and semi skilled workers. In the second phase, another Rs 150 crore investment is expected, creating jobs for 2,000 more persons.