[Forward from the Bytesforall list ... John]
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Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2001 6:04 AM
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Subject: [bytesforall] Marxist Bengal turns a friendly face to IT
Marxist Bengal turns a friendly face to IT
by Krittivas Mukherjee, India Abroad News Service
Calcutta, Nov 27 - A fortnight ago, the office of the West Bengal
chief minister received a telephone call from a top Bangalore-based
information technology (IT) firm inquiring about the availability of
government land for setting up of a hardware production unit at
Calcutta.
The IT company gave the Communist state government a week's time to or
say goodbye to the investment proposal. Going by the past experience
with the state, no one expected the government to react within the
deadline.
But when the chief minister's office called back the company within
three days with the required details, it not only surprised the top
brass of the blue-chip company, but the state's industry as a whole
because it signaled a change in the direction of the wind.
The latest addition to the state's list of IT investors is none other
than IT giant Wipro. The firm headed by Azim Premji is set to build a
production unit on a 12-acre land with an initial investment of Rs.
800 million,Industry and Commerce Minister Bangshogopal Chowdhury told
IANS.
Wipro has indicated that the investment in the state would be
increased to Rs. 2.5 billion in the near future. An estimated 3,000
skilled workers are to be employed in the proposed unit.
Chowdhury said several IT giants like Cognizant Technology,
PriceWaterhouse Coopers and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) wanted
more land to expand their operations in the state.
If West Bengal so long was a portrait of shoddy work culture and an
epitome of industrial backwardness, the one single act of clearing an
investment proposal with allotment of land within three days is
symptomatic of the state's growing awareness of the value of time in
the Internet age.
For Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya's government, all industries
are welcome, but IT remains the priority. Advised by international
consultants McKinsey the government recently formed a special task
force to handle IT-related investment proposals. The chief minister
himself ensures the speedy clearance of all investment files.
The state government, which declared a new IT policy in December last,
has now decided to allot land on a priority basis to IT ventures in
the Electronic Complex at Salt Lake on the city's eastern fringe.
Government land, which remained unused by its leaseholders, is being
reclaimed and distributed among IT investors on an urgent basis.
Bhattacharya has ordered the urban development department to prepare a
list of unused land in Salt Lake belonging to individual, government,
semi-government and autonomous bodies. The government has taken this
step to meet the demand for land from investors, particularly of the
IT sector. About 100 acres of land was lying unused in Salt Lake.
The Electronic Complex, built on 153 acres of land, currently houses
107 IT, telecom and electronic firms national and international. The
complex has two dedicated Software Technology Parks, the second of
which was inaugurated over the weekend. It has been built jointly by
IBM and West Bengal Electronics Limited (WEBEL). IBM is also set to
help the state build more software technology parks in Durgapur and
Kalyani.
The growth of the IT sector has been pegged at 75 percent in the
state, while the national average is 50 to 51 percent. Software worth
Rs. 7 billion was exported from the state this year, according to
official figures.
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