Wipro plans Rs 800 cr investment in second campus

No clarity on time frame.

On Wednesday at Writers’ Building, after Wipro Chairman Azim Premji met Mamata Banerjee, finance minister Amit Mitra told the media that the information technology (IT) giant is planning to invest Rs 800 crore in a project that will provide employment to 15,000 people.

“Premji has indicated that Wipro would like to invest between Rs 700-800 crore in a project that will provide employment to 15,000 youths in the state. The details will be later announced by Premji himself,” Mitra said.

Although Mitra did not expressly say so, it is understood that the project he referred to is Wipro’s second campus which is slated to come up at Rajarhat.

Incidentally, the Left Front government under Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had allocated 50 acres to Wipro in Rajarhat for a second campus back in 2009 itself for Rs 100 crore. Of this, the company has so far paid Rs 25 crore.

The company has thus far maintained that the delay in taking possession has been caused by the lack of infrastructure at the project site. On Wednesday, however, Premji chose to skirt the issue altogether deciding not to talk to the media at all.

Another senior Wipro official who was also part of the discussions at Writers’ said that when Wipro gets possession of the land will depend on the infrastructure development at the site. When contacted senior officials in the state information technology (IT) department said that the project referred to was an old project and the infrastructure at the site had been readied.

“I think it was the same project. Wipro is yet to take possession of the land there. They will get possession once they pay the remaining 75 per cent of the land price. We hope that will soon happen,” the official said.

When contacted, Partha Chatterjee, state IT minister, who was unable to attend the meeting on health grounds said that Wipro would get the land once the hurdles were removed. What these hurdles are, he did not elaborate.

Mitra also said that Wipro had evinced interest in collaborating with the state government for the creation of paperless offices through the public private partnership models in the e-governance space.