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| IT minister promises Microsoft assistance in Bengal |
| BS Reporter / Kolkata Jul 30, 2011, 00:07 IST |
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West Bengal information technology (IT) minister on Friday urged global IT software giant Microsoft to invest in Bengal, promising all assistance by way of infrastructure and encouragement from the government’s side.
"Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is ready to provide all kinds of support, for which we would like to have your guidance. We want you to invest in the state," Chatterjee told Microsoft Corporation India chairman Bhaskar Pramanik at an IT conclave here on Friday.
The state IT department, under Chatterjee’s leadership has been making attempts at growth since chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s announcement that the sector would be a focus of the government for job creation, especially since it does not require massive land utilisation.
Pramanik however appeared non-committal on investment plans.
“While the cluster approach to growth of the IT sector is interesting and we have prior expertise in cloud servicing in a cluster, many things need to be in place before we can invest,” Pramanik told reporters.
Pramanik said that Microsoft was invested in cloud computing in a big way while relating the technology and its utilisation to future e-governance projects where he said it would be of tremendous help.
IIIT-Kalyani
The West Bengal state government on Friday said that they were in the process of finalising land and other requirements for an Indian Institute of Information and Technology (IIIT) at Kalyani and had finalised 55 acres for the same.
The IIIT project is part of the budget 2011, where the centre had announced the setting up of 20 such institutions across the country on a public-private partnership (PPP) model.
“The IIIT project requires that the state government provides about 70 acres free land. We have, however identified 55 acres near Kalyani, which has been approved by the centre,” said Basudeb Banerjee principal secretary, IT department, West Bengal.
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