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'Don't
believe us. Come and see for yourself ' LIKE any other policy framers or decision-makers in the government Dr G. D. Gautama, the Principal Secretary of the IT Department of West Bengal also knows what could be a highly probable question that a prospective IT investor could ask him at the end of a lengthy interactive session. Perception about Bengal. But Dr Gautama is one of those top ranking senior bureaucrats in the state who is not prepared to buy this concept any more. He is one of those who strongly believes that perception has been changing and changing in positive direction otherwise giants like IBM, Wipro, TCS, Cognizant would not have been here today. "Don't believe us. Come and see for yourself what the ground realities are today in Bengal. Why today IT majors are keen to have their operation from Kolkata too. Reasons are specific for which the state can stand out among others in the country." These simple three or four liners from Dr Gautama after an hour long interaction with him are enough for even a new comer to sense the one-upmanship of the West Bengal government today in the field of Information Technology. He never hesitates to admit that the state is a bit late starter in the field of IT "but in last three years we have made enormous progress and reflecting exponential growth in IT sector." During last two and a half years West Bengal has clocked cumulative growth of 119 percent against a national average of 36 percent. By 2010 the state wants to contribute 15 per cent of the country's total IT revenues and 20 percent of the ITES revenue from the current share of 5.1 percent. "It's a challenging job no doubt but we strongly believe this is achievable with good infrastructure and proactive IT policy," he asserted in an interview with Amitabha Sen. West Bengal offers a variety of advantages to the IT and ITES sectors. These are around huge reservoir of talent pool; very low attrition rate; very good availability of quality power. In fact West Bengal has been ranked No. 1 in the country- both by Nasscom and Gartner- in terms of quality and availability of power. All the big names are in Kolkata today. They are all in expanding in a big way. IBM, Wipro, TCS, Cognizant, Skytech, NIIT, PriceWaterhouseCoopers -all are there and expanding in a big way. Wipro and WiproSpectramind have started their operations about three months back. They have a plan to have 7500 professionals during their 18-month time. Already close to 1000 people are working in Wipro and Wiproepsctramind. They have requested in addition to the 16-acre fracility in Salt Lake, they have requested 50-acre land at Rajarhat. Besides, Satyam have also made an announcement to set up an unit in Kolkata. GE Capital have started their operations. They will be setting up their campus soon. HSBC work is going on and the unit is expected to go into operation by third quarter of 2005. Besides, ITC Infotech and Reliance have also announced to start their operations to be started from Kolkata. One of the issues that affected Bengal most in the past is the issue of perception which is not borne by the ground realities today. It's history today. "To correct this, we are holding extensive roadshows, telling people what the ground conditions, requesting them to come over to Kolkata and see for themselves the opportunities the state offers. During last two years, we have held 46 roadshows in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Gurgaon, Noida, Delhi and Pune besides participating in IT seminars and exhibitions very extensively. We are planning some roadshows abroad as well. In the recent past international magazines like Far Eastern Economic Review, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Washington Post have covered very extensively the IT initiatives of West Bengal highlighting the opportunities the state offers. International consultant, Hewitt Associates have positioned Kolkata as the most preferred ITES destination," pointed out Dr Gautama adding that "even at the cost of repetition I would say 'Evaluate Kolkata on reality and not on perception'.
Besides, the state government would be developing about 150 acre of land at New Township at Rajarhat. Besides a 40-acre area at Sunrise City in Nonadanga (near EM Bypass) is being developed for IT companies. The West Bengal government has approached the central government to set up a Submarine Cable Landing Station in Kolkata. In respect of Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connectivity western and southern states are well covered due to VSNL's SCLS in Mumbai and Kochi and Bharti's SCLS at Chennai. In the entire eastern and north-eastern region there is no SCLS. West Bengal is an ideal destination for SCLS which besides feeding the domestic market could explore markets in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar. Three most distinctive advantage that sharpens the edge of West Bengal as IT destination is very low attrition rate, stable power supply and low cost of operation. The attrition low is very low here and experts like Mr. Kiran Karnik say that it's a part of the Bengal culture. People for a small raise of money will not leave the job. "The attrition rate here in Kolkata is very low. But we are aware of the fact that as the growth will take place, the attrition rate will go up but the differential will always be maintained because the culture of the state," so feels Dr. Gautama. So far power. Besides, quality of power is high and the supply system is also quite stable. Nasscom-Gartner report have put West Bengal on top of the list among other states so far as power scenario is concerned. As per CMIE index Kolkata is one of those cities where cost of operation is low because cost of living is low. If compared with Mumbai suburb and not Mumbai, even then operations in Kolkata would mean a minimum 12 percent cost advantage. To enrich the reservoir of skilled and talented manpower and to ensure uninterrupted and smooth flow of manpower, the state government is taking various steps. As many as 65 private engineering colleges and business schools have been set up under the West Bengal University of Technology. This include government-sponsored Indian Institute of Information Technology. These are excluding the resource available from the reputed institutions like BE College, Jadavpur University, Indian Statistical Institute, IIT-Khargpur and Science College. Currently 21,000 professionals are working in different IT companies here . By 2010 it is likely to grow to 1.75 lakh in IT and 2.40 lakh professional in ITES sectors. One significant
decision that the West Bengal government has taken is to declare the IT
and ITES industry a public utility service. "It has been done recognizing
the need for 24x7 run. The operation even during strike or bandh
days is expected to remain unaffected due to this," he said. Commenting
on the IT as a tool to achieve the ultimate objective, the welfare of
the people of the state Dr Gautama said: IT is an enabler. It is a tool.
We are not achieving one sector at the expense of another. IT is for the
people. IT is for the masses. It has no meaning if it cannot serve the
ultimate objective of the people- a good living." INTERVIEWS |
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