ITC Info plans second centre for Rs 100 cr

ITC Infotech India Ltd (IIIL), the information technology business of ITC Ltd, will set up a development and service centre, which can accommodate 2,500 employees, in Kolkata.

The centre, the company's second after its existing centre at Bangalore, is likely to cost over Rs 100 crore.

IIIL approached the West Bengal government seeking 15-20 acres of land for the proposed centre. It already has more than 200 people working on different projects at ITC's headquarters complex at Virginia House on Kolkata's Chowringhee Road.

"Till such time that the land is handed over and construction is completed, we intend to move into rented space and scale up operations as required", Sanjay Verma, managing director, said.

IIIL has close to 3,000 employees at present working for it directly as well as for its joint venture with the US firma ClientLogic. It also has wholly-owned subsidiaries in the US and UK.

The company aims to start up the centre by the next financial year on this basis and formal operations may be launched by April 1, 2005, Verma said. Intermediate facilities would be used for this.

"We submitted our requirements to the state government today and expect a prompt response. The centre would do high-end work in development and technical support services and would definitely not be a call-centre sort of operation", said Verma.

The preferred location would be east of the city, possibly close to the ITC Sonar Bangla Hotel. State IT secretary, G D Gautama said, the company was likely to be allocated land at Rajarhat, the new IT hub of the city.

Most employees would be middle management upwards and the location would help satisfy their aspirations in terms of social infrastructure and convenience.

The ITC investment would be one of the larger investments in the IT sector in West Bengal. It would join three major projects under implementation- a development centre being set up by Wipro, expansion of existing facilities by Tata Consultancy Services and a new consulting complex being constructed by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Gautama said a team from G E Capital was also in the city to explore possibilities.