Infosys to get freehold land for its maiden venture in Bengal

The West Bengal government today decided to allow IT major Infosys to get land on freehold basis for its first IT development centre in the state.
The company had purchased 50 acres from the government at Rajarhat for the project.
Speaking about the outcome of the cabinet meeting, State Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said that earlier the land was given IT major on lease for 99 years on a renewal basis.
"Earlier we had decided to allow 75 per cent of the 50-acre land for IT and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITeS). Now today in the Cabinet we have decided to bring it down to 51 percent for IT and ITeS," he said after the cabinet meeting.

"They (Infosys) had written us requesting that 51 per cent will be used for IT and ITeS besides, asking for freehold instead of leasehold which we have decided to allow," he said.
According to another senior officer, Infosys needed to submit the DPR (detailed project report) within a month of registration of the land.

The IT major would also be asked to be functional within 15 months after the registration, he said.
Chatterjee said that Infosys will invest around Rs 100 crore in the first phase while 1000 persons were expected to be employed.
A spokesman of the IT major had already said that it would submit the plan for the proposed Kolkata centre to the West Bengal government after completion of the land registration process.

On August 29, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that IT major Infosys would invest in the state without the special economic zone (SEZ) status, which the company had sought.
"The company (Infosys) has agreed to accept all other facilities offered by the state government," she had said.
Infosys had earlier asked the Banerjee government for SEZ status for their project or return of the Rs 75 crore it had paid for land at Rajarhat. The Trinamool Congress government is against SEZ as a policy.