Finally, IT professionals in Bengal have some good news to rejoice. The state will see 15 new IT parks in the next few years. The new IT parks will be built in Purulia, Bajora, Bolpur, Kharagpur, Durgapur, Siliguri, Asansol and Rajarhat. Eight of the proposed 15 IT parks are almost ready to function. The remaining 7 parks are under construction in Kalyani, Howrah, Haldia, Krishnanagar, Bantala, and Taratala.
More jobs on the radar
Smt. Mamata Banerjee, the honorable CM seemed highly enthusiastic over the newly developed IT parks, which will generate more jobs for the people in West Bengal. She expressed over social media that nearly 20,000 new jobs will be created in these IT parks. The honorable chief minister of West Bengal further added that big shots like Wipro, TCS, and Cognizant are planning to build new IT campuses in Salt Lake City. Wipro will be adding 2400 IT professionals in the next few years and has already started with campus expansion. TCS already has a new campus in Rajarhat area and has plans of hiring more than 20,000 IT professionals in the next few years. Cognizant too has plans of hiring 5000 IT resources for its new campus at Bantala.
According to reliable sources each IT Park can house up to 12-15 companies, each unit is 400 sq. ft in size. Larger companies may take three or four units, since they have a much bigger workforce, as compared to small and medium companies.
New Campuses for New Opportunities
SEZ status has been obtained for the Kolkata IT Park at Bantala (130 acres). The government has planned for the acquisition of additional land near the airport for over 300 acres which may house the 3rd IT hub after the Salt Lake Electronics Complex and New Town in Rajarhat which are very much in demand for knowledge industries.
Also, STPI, India’s largest software technology park is coming with an estimated investment of Rs. 100 crore and promises to hire about 5000 IT professionals for small and medium enterprises. STPI maintains internal engineering resources to provide consulting, training and implementation services. Services cover Network Design, System Integration, and Installation. STPI-Kolkata and the government of West Bengal are jointly working together for bringing about IT revolution in West Bengal.
The same of optimism prevailed in Amit Mitra’s speech at the inaugural session of the 15th “Technology Senate”, organized by The Express Group last year. According to the Finance, Commerce & Industries Minister of the Indian state of West Bengal, the IT parks at Siliguri (in North Bengal) have already employed 700 people. Purulia’s new IT Park are getting a very good response from IT companies. The state government is searching for an anchor investor for developing data analytics business at the Kalyani facility (in Nadia district).
With new IT Parks growing in number, and the promise of more job creation, Bengal hopes to see a new sunshine in IT.
