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Kolkata?s shining. The metro, known for
its urban horrors for long, is now
emerging as a centre to rival Bangalore as an IT destination. And the global
media is warning Bangalore that Kolkata is out to steal its thunder! The New York Times, The Far Eastern Review,
all the big guns are dazzled by Kolkata rising as a phoenix from the ashes of
its own destruction. And driving the resurgence is infotech. Recently, Wipro?s Azim Premji asked the
Left Front government for a plot twice the size of Eden Gardens at the emerging
New Town near Kolkata for setting up a campus. The 40-acre campus, second only to Wipro?s mother facility at
Bangalore, will mean a rapid roll-out in the state for the IT major. ?It is
Kolkata which has the potential to become the second IT hub of India after
Bangalore,?? said Premji. Other than
Wipro, companies like TCS, IBM, Cognizant, Lexmark all are there. The "City of Joy" is assuming
an IT avatar. About 30 IT companies set up base in the city last year. Most of
them are in the BPO space, working for both the US and the UK. Joanna Slater
wiring in the Far Eastern Economic Review cited the state's huge talent pool
and low costs as reasons for attracting IT investors. Boosting the state
government's morale, the story said software professionals who had left the
city to look for jobs elsewhere were returning here to take up jobs. IT Happens Also in
Kolkata Unlike in many parts of India, the power
supply is actually reliable in Kolkata. Costs are even lower than in Bangalore
or Mumbai. And there's a huge supply of talent from nearby engineering schools,
including the IIT Kharagpur. And the
government is going all out to woo the IT industry as well. During a recent
nationwide strike in February, IT companies were given yellow stickers to place
on workers' cars identifying them as providing an essential service, and were
promised security. AIG Inc, one of the world's largest
insurance firms, is setting up its second Indian centre there (the first being
in Chennai). PWC, now part of IBM, has its biggest audit centre, which is
planning to ramp up to 4,000 people within two years. West Bengal's IT success has also attracted
the attention of the New York Times , which sent its Southeast Asia bureau
chief to find out all about it. The state had been making quite strides
for sometime. Software exports from West Bengal, which hopes to capture 20 per
cent of the Indian export market by 2005, have doubled in 2002-03. Software exports stood at Rs 1,300 crore
($289 million) during the period against Rs 750 crore ($167 million) in
2001-02, figures published by the state directorate of industries said. Boom-Town Rap West Bengal's revised IT policy aims at
making the state one of the top three states in software exports by 2010. During the period 1992-2000, the state's
economy (state domestic product) grew the fastest among the 15 major states, at
an annual average of 7.4 per cent, followed by the number two Karnataka which
recorded 7.3 per cent. During the same period, per capita
income in the state grew by 5.7 per cent, beaten only by Tamil Nadu whose per
capita income grew by 5.76 per cent. West Bengal's literacy level has been
consistently higher than the national average and fertility rate and population
growth rate lower than the national average. To bring in new investment and jobs,
government ministers have publicly discouraged the city's infamous strikes and
met with businessmen in India and abroad to promote the state. Kolkata is on
its way to becoming the IT hub that it is destined to be. |
