Why should anyone be interested in making investments in Kolkata among all the other cities in India?
As I mentioned in my address at TiECon 2008, IT growth rate in West Bengal is higher than the national average and the companies there are experiencing much higher growth rates than in other states. Secondly, in Kolkata and West Bengal as a whole, investment is increasing these days because of the infrastructure. Infrastructure is very good in Kolkata, including the transport system. You can reach the first IT hub within 15 minutes from the airport.
In another 15 minutes you will reach the second IT hub and the second IT hub is going to be connected by Metro. Besides, West Bengal's power situation is the cheapest and the quality is the best. So, along with the talent pool, all these factors make Kolkata an ideal place for IT and IT-related investments.
I must say that things are inexpensive in Kolkata and the cost effectiveness is very high.
It's good to know that Kolkata has locational and cost advantages and the power situation is good, but newspapers write about constant brownouts, load-shedding and all that.
Load shedding is an occurrence of the past. Actually, we are generating excess power these days. Load shedding is not a factor at all now. If you look at a NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Services Companies) report, it has praised us in terms of quality and quantity.
But there is load shedding in the state. State Governor has voluntarily shut off power in Raj Bhavan in a bid to . . .
That is a very recent and temporary development because of some failures in some generating units. But in general the situation is far better than in the past.
One of your ambitions since you became minister is to make West Bengal one of the three top IT centers. How do you think you are going to achieve the goal?
We are trying. We have got 70,000 employees, but by 2010, we will increase that number to a minimum of 200,000 employees and to do that we need some quality companies and that is one of the main reasons I have come to Silicon Valley.
Image: A yellow cab and a few two wheelers ply across the deserted Howrah Bridge in Kolkata. | Photograph: Deshakalyan Chowdhury/AFP/Getty Images
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