No plans to give up land in Bengal: S Gopalakrishnan

The company had paid Rs 75 cr for 50-acre plot in Rajarhat, it is yet to commence work there

Infosys may still be interested in setting up a campus in West Bengal as the software exporter has no immediate plan to surrender the 50-acre land it acquired in the state in 2009.

"There are no plans to give up the land at this point," S Gopalakrishnan, executive co-chairman of Infosys, told reporters at a press meet organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here today.

While Infosys had paid Rs 75 crore for the 50-acre plot in Rajarhat (in the eastern fringes of Kolkata), it is yet to commence work there. It is believed that the project is stalled as it is yet to be classified as a special economic zone (SEZ). The ruling Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal is not in favour of creating SEZs.

"SEZs give certain benefits to companies in terms of tax credits. Any company will like to get those benefits, especially if the competitors are getting those benefits," Gopalakrishnan said.

During the Left Front's regime in West Bengal, the country's largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) had acquired 40 acres in Rajarhat and received SEZ status for the campus. TCS has started work on this site in December, 2012 and is expected to employ close to 16,500 people there. Gopalakrishnan declined to detail further on Infosys' plans in West Bengal.

"The discussions (between the state government and Infosys) are private and it is not fair to discuss it in a public forum. I don't want to answer anything specific on Infosys," he said.

Gopalakrishnan, who is also CII's president, however, said that state governments must figure out ways to attract investments. "Each state should create its own model, come out with its own package to attract investments. SEZ is only one of the options but there are several other ways to give incentive to the industry to bring in investments," he said.