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| Kolkata IT growth in positive trajectory |
| Swati Garg & Devjyot Ghoshal / Kolkata Aug 09, 2010, 00:59 IST |
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The past year brought good news for Kolkata, as the city’s IT sector, along with Noida, registered positive export growth for 2009-10. While Kolkata’s IT exports registered a growth of 6.08 per cent, to stand at Rs 5,411 crore, as opposed to Rs 5,129 crore in the previous year, that of Noida increased by 3.86 per cent.
Other centres such as Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai, specialising in IT exports, recorded a decline of 11.19 per cent, 15.21 per cent and 11.30 per cent, respectively.
Kolkata registered growth on the back of low input cost, a government keen on promoting the sector, along with low attrition rates and availability of trained professionals.
Tata Consultancy Services, the largest business IT solutions and consultancy provider in India, grew at 20 per cent last year, increasing head count by 2000 to about 12,500 in the city.
In terms of business growth, although no new business segments were transferred to the city, the volume of growth for existing business segments went up. Segments serviced from Kolkata such as banking and financial services, manufacturing and retail did well during the last three quarters.
In the backdrop of repeated bandhs, political turmoil and the likelihood of a regime change, a TCS spokesperson said, “We find the city ideal for IT industry, given the excellent power supply and infrastructure, and high-quality educational institutes as well as low attrition rates. Another important criterion is that the IT policy of the West Bengal is aimed at accelerating the growth of the industry.”
There is also the fact that competent professionals are available in the city at costs lower than those of most other metros.
“Recession necessitated that bigger players found low-cost destinations for fulfillment of product requirements so that the overall cost of production was brought down. Although it is correct that the overall base of exports in Kolkata is low, there is also the parallel factor of skill-based growth in a cost-controlled environment that has led to enhancement of growth numbers. One finds therefore that it is companies like Deloitte and Pricewaterhouse Coopers that are ramping up operations in the city,” said Kalyan Kar, managing director, Acclaris and vice-president, Sector V Industries Forum.
Deloitte has increased headcount by roughly 30 per cent in 2009 and Pricewaterhousecoopers (PwC) plans to create more than 2,000 jobs over the next three years in a brand-new service delivery centre in Kolkata.
There is also the factor of low attrition rate among city IT professionals. “Compared with the larger IT metros, attrition rates in Kolkata, which rose by almost 15 per cent in 2009-10, would still be at least 10-15 per cent lower than those of other cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai.
This could be attributed mostly to the lack of options where the IT space in terms of companies and work is concerned,” said E Balaji, execuitive director, Ma Foi Management Consultants.
Escalation in growth percentages would not be indicative of the overall prosperity of the Kolkata IT sector.
For all the positive growth fractions, the overall numbers tell a story of a state trying its best to catch up. Bangalore still trumped the charts with exports of Rs 62,500 crore, Hyderabad of Rs 23,318 crore and Mumbai of Rs 40,097 crore, a far cry from Kolkata’s Rs 5,411 crore.
“There are contentions that our base in terms of investment and export is low and hence the growth is positive. One would only have to look at growth rates of others such as Bhubaneswar, and Gandhinagar to understand the fact that despite having a low base, our growth could not just be attributed to negative factors,” asserted state IT minister, Debesh Das in a recent press conference.
Incidentally, exports from Bhubaneswar stood at Rs 1,023 crore, down 11.96 per cent and those from Gandhinagar at Rs 1,150 crore, a decline of 9.31 per cent.Kolkata has been selected as one of the seven cities for IT leadership by Nasscom. One would have to wait and find out if growth rates are sustainable and whether the city would be able to live up to its name of being an IT leader.
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