Webel offers IT-ready space, Nasscom in talks with institutes

West Bengal would now offer infrastructure to start-up IT companies to kick-start operations in 24-hours.

In an effort to boost the growth of small and medium companies in the sector, the state government has started two facilities at Taratala and Durgapur in West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation's (Webel) premises.

"These two facilities can together offer around 500 seats in the plug and play format. One can start a company with a group of people and laptops within 24 hours in these premises for which they pay a rent",the state IT minister Debesh Das said here at Nasscom CEO summit 2008.

Around 20 to 25 units have already started work at Durgapur. The Taratala facility, that will house 350 seats is yet to be ready.

The IT department was keen to come up with a similar set up in heart of the state IT hub in Sector-5 of Salt Lake.

"We are already working on developing a smaller facility in Sector-5. It could be operational in around 15 to 18 months", said Debanjan Dutta, managing director, Webel.

As for offering land to the two IT majors Wipro and Infosys after they signed a memorandum of understanding with the state government in April this year for buying 90 and 100 acre plots respectively, Das said that land could be offered by December.

"The acquisition and purchasing of land for the project was still on" he added.

The state government planned to offer land to both the companies in the 600 acre Kolkata IT Link near Rajarhat, a joint venture project between Webel and Akash Nirman Private Ltd.

Akash Nirman was, in turn, a joint venture between two city based real estate developers, Diamond Group and Vedic Realty.

In a parallel development, Nasscom Eastern region council, set up in July 2008, is talking to premier institutes in Kolkata to include modules on information technology, in an attempt to create skilled labour for the information technology here.

Speaking at the Nasscom CEO Summit 2008, V V R Babu, ITC Infotech India Limited, said, “There is always dearth of skilled and ready manpower in the city. Even engineering graduates have to undergo long trainee period whichever company they join after graduation. To bridge this need-based gap, we are talking to institutes in the city so that they include modules in their curriculum on systems management and other information technology related nitty-gritties.”

So far, 500 police officials from West Bengal and Kolkata Police have been trained by Nasscom eastern regional council in cyber-security. A total of 1100 police officers have been trained over a three-year period, which is by far the highest across regions, outside of Maharashtra, where the program was initiated.