Genpact may cancel project in MP

Business process outsourcing major Genpact's proposed infotech-based special economic zone (SEZ) in Bhopal may not take off.

There are reports that the company is planning to withdraw its proposal even before it can take shape, due to high land prices and dearth of skilled manpower.

The company as well government officials are silent on the Rs 150 crore SEZ project. Genpact had obtained the necessary permission from the central government. Several attempts to contact company officials did not get any response.

"We have asked the company to deposit an amount for the 50 acres allocated to it in Barbai village, where an infotech park will take shape. We are awaiting the company's response. They will have to deposit the amount (Rs 49 per square foot) with the state government," said Anurag Shrivastava, deputy secretary, department of state information technology.

The Madhya Pradesh government has 200 acres in Barbai village to develop an infotech park. Genpact, a business process outsourcing company principally owned by GE (around 40 per cent), was the first to approach the government to set up an SEZ.

Soaring land prices, lack of adequate electricity supply and non-availability of skilled manpower in infotech kept infotech majors away from the state.

When the Bharatiya Janata Party took over from the Congress, the then Chief Minister Uma Bharti made tall claims of attracting big-ticket investment from infotech heavyweights . Bharti's successor Babulal Gaur also made the same claims but nothing concrete has come out of it yet.

An infotech park, named Crystal IT Park, developed in Indore had no takers. The park was developed with an investment of Rs 80 crore.

A government source said, "The state government has conducted no surveys to attract investment in infotech and has no roadmap for this."