Mamata welcomes Nasscom proposal for Kolkata incubation centre

Welcoming Nasscom's proposal for building the first incubation centre for young and aspiring IT entrepreneurs here, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Saturday claimed the state's IT, engineering and manufacturing sectors saw very positive and encouraging developments over the past week.

"Nasscom has offered to build the first-ever incubation centre for young and aspiring IT entrepreneurs in Kolkata. We have heartily welcomed the proposal and have already offered 10,000 sq.ft. space for setting up of the centre immediately with provision for another 10,000 sq.ft. for future requirement," the chief minister said in a post on her Facebook page.

She said Nasscom has also offered to partner the state to share globally cutting edge thinking with students of the Indian Institute of Information Technology coming up at Kalyani in Nadia district and also mentor students towards entrepreneurship and placement.

Banerjee also pointed out that 16 of the 18 exporters in engineering and manufacturing sectors from the eastern region feted by the country's apex body for export organizations, FIEO (Federation of Indian Export Organisations) belong to the state.

She said the 16 exporters have exported goods and services worth over Rs.11,000 crore.

"Bengal's exports were around Rs.63,000 crore in 2013-14, of which nearly Rs.32,000 crore is from the engineering and manufacturing sectors. FIEO has announced doubling of the target of exports from $10.5 billion now to $20 billion from Bengal over the coming 3-4 years."

Banerjee hoped that the developments would create more jobs and more opportunities for the state's youth and entrepreneurs.