Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said that Infosys’s setting up its development centre in Calcutta will attract more companies to invest in the state.
The IT bellwether officially inaugurated its first development centre in the state. Land for the project was acquired during the erstwhile Left Front regime. The chief minister had laid the foundation stone for the project in August 2018.
Spread over 3.2 lakh square feet and with an investment of over ₹426 crore, the campus at New Town, Rajarhat can accommodate 4,000 employees in a hybrid working model.
“Infosys coming to Calcutta will attract other companies to come and invest more in the state for their development and for the industry. Our government will provide all the help. We have legacy debt, but the economy is safe and sound,” the chief minister said adding the state has the requisite talented human capital which is key to the growth of the IT industry.
She added that over 2200 IT companies including major names such as TCS, Wipro, Cognizant, IBM, Ericsson, Capgemini, Tech Mahindra, Accenture ITC Infotech, and British Telecom are already present in the state.
Infosys echoed the Chief Minister’s views.
“We see a tremendous talent potential in the state that houses some of the finest educational institutions in the country and produces thousands of qualified and talented individuals each year and that is what attracted us here,” said Jayesh Sanghrajka, chief financial officer, Infosys.
“We believe this development center will lead to the creation of job opportunities and propel economic growth in Bengal. We also hope that this will create a large technology ecosystem and attract other companies in future,” Sanghrajka said.
“The centre can accommodate up to 4000 employees and aligns with Infosys future-ready hybrid workplace strategy,” he said.
Infrastructure
Highlighting the growth of the IT sector in the state and the initiatives of the state, the chief minister said that the state has provided 200 acres of land towards the development of the Silicon Valley Hub and is expecting investments of ₹27,000 crore. 40 companies have taken land and 11 are building data centres. “Already 28 companies have started work,” she said.
“We have set up 22 IT parks in tier 2 and tier 3 locations. Almost 85 per cent of facilities are filled up, employing talented locals,” she added.
The chief minister further said that the state already has a broadband policy, data centre policy, guidelines for AI and ML and cable landing policy. Recently, Global Foundries has also proposed to establish a semiconductor facility in Calcutta.
She said that the state has no power crisis and once the Deocha Pachami coal block starts production, power is expected to become cheaper in the state.
The chief minister also said that the size of Bengal’s economy is expected to touch ₹19 lakh crore this year. The size of the state economy measured in terms of GSDP at current prices was ₹17 lakh crore (1st advance estimate) in 2023-24 (base year 2011-12), as per the state’s economic review 2023-24.