West Bengal has aggressively joined the race in the Information Technology sector, seeking to become one of the top 3 IT destinations by capturing 15-20% of the country's total IT revenues by 2009-2010. The state government's new IT Policy, 2003, has termed IT as a "public utility service", which will enable all IT companies in the state to operate on a 24x7x365 model, irrespective of any strikes or "bandhs". This is a major move which is expected to give a tremendous boost to the IT sector, and allied outsourcing activities. The state's IT hub in Kolkata's Salt Lake, bristles with companies like PWC, TCS, Computer Associates, CTS, Agilent, and IBM. Wipro is expected to start it's software development operations in 2004. Proactive marketing by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Industry Minister Nirupam Sen, and IT Minister Manab Mukherjee, has already attracted important investments in the sector. In the ITES sector. There is a queue of new entrants with 100-200 seat call centers.

The availability of a large talent pool, the locational advantage of Kolkata, a good social infrastructure- all have enhanced the state's competitiveness as an IT destination. The state's talent pool has expanded, with the number of engineering colleges and technical institutions going up significantly over a period of 5 years. There are currently 52 engineering colleges in West Bengal,
and an existing pool of about 15,000 experienced IT professionals in the state,
with more being created every year. WEBEL, the state government corporation,
acts as the state's nodal IT investor support agency and performs a variety of functions.

Currently 185 IT companies employing more than 15,000 IT professionals are operating in Sector V at Salt Lake, which is the fastest growing Software Technology Park (STP) in the country today. The complex registered a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 119% during 2001-03. Around 12,000 crore worth software was exported from Kolkata during 2002-03. Looking at the intrinsic strength of Kolkata, coupled with the competitive advanatage which West Bengal offers, a target of 15-20% revenue has been set for the year 2010 against a current revenue of 3%.

West bengal has the lowest cost of operation, lowest attrition rate, one of the best power position in the country as certified by NASSCOM and GARTNER and good social and physical infrastructure. This coupled with the aggressive IT policy brought out by the State on 26 Sep 2003, have put West Bengal as a front runner in the field of ITES.

Source: Sunrise City Nov 2003