Bengali Business Network(BBN)

Infosys plans software centre in Kolkata

August 27, 2004 14:58 IST

Infosys Technologies Ltd has agreed in principle to set up a software development centre in Kolkata, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee said on Friday.

"I was trying to convince Mr Narayana Murthy (Infosys founder and chairman) for the last 3-4 years to come to Kolkata and finally he has accepted our invitation and agreed in principle," Bhattacharjee said at an industry-academia meet for IT and ITeS sector jointly organised by Confederation of Indian Industry, National Association of Software and Service Companies and West Bengal government's IT department.

He said despite being a late starter West Bengal had been making rapid strides in the IT sector.

"West Bengal's share in the country's total IT export increased from three per cent in 2002 to five per cent in 2003. Now our target is to achieve 15 per cent share in IT and 20 per cent in ITES by 2010," he said.

At present, Kolkata had a stable infrastructure back-up with quality power and strong connectivity in place. Adequate bandwidth in the gateways was also available to meet the requirements of IT and ITES industries, he said.

Kolkata offered about 580 Mbps of international satellite connectivity through Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Software Technology Parks of India. Two more satellite earth stations at Durgapur and Kharagpur had also started functioning recently, Bhattacharjee said.

Besides VSNL, private players like Reliance Infocomm and Bharti were operating in Kolkata and providing adequate bandwidth, he said, adding the built-up infrastructure was readily available for any IT unit to start operations immediately.

Bhattacharjee said the state government had taken steps to create software technology parks in places other than Kolkata to spread IT industry and match future demands.

To meet the emerging demands, two more locations at the Sunrise City near the Eastern Metropolitan By-pass were being developed, he said.

The state government was now targeting to develop Kolkata's satellite township Rajarhat as an IT hub. "We have earmarked 150 acres for IT industry in Rajarhat and this space would be allotted to new players as well as Webel, an undertaking of the state government," he said.

HSBC in Kolkata

KOLKATA: HSBC Electronics Data Processing India, a subsidiary of HSBC group, would set up its fourth facility at Salt Lake which would be operational by August 2005.

After signing the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the West Bengal IT department on Wednesday, CEO of HSBC Electronics Data Processing Malcolm Wagget told reporters that the centre would be set up on a 3.5 acre plot where 500 people would be initially employed on a floor space of 1,80,000 square feet.

Subsequently, the headcount at the centre would be stepped up.

HSBC has similar facilities in India at Hyderabad, Bangalore and Vishakapatnam. Total headcount in India was 6,000 which would be increased to 6,500 in the current year.

State IT minister Manab Mukherjee said that the state government would hold road shows in Delhi shortly. He said that a team of Infosys was also coming to the city soon.

India's largest IT park in Kolkata

Real estate development major DLF Universal Limited, part of the Rs 1000 crore (Rs 10 billion) DLF group, would set up the country's largest information technology park in West Bengal, which would be ready within 24 months.

Announcing this in Kolkata, on Thursday, chief executive of DLF Universal Yogesh Verma said the Rs 280-crore (Rs 2.8 billion) project would be built on a 10-acre plot in Rajarhat and would offer 1.3 million square feet workspace incorporating the latest technology.

Verma said that the first phase of the project would be operational by April 2005, adding that a renowned corporate had already booked a floor space of 300,000 square feet.

He said that the park would cater to information technology companies as well as business process outsourcing and call centres.

He said that once completed, nearly 10,000 people could work in the IT park on 24X7 basis with a underground parking facility for 2000 cars.

Bengal on hi-tech investment expressway

IT Minister, Manab Mukherjee with CM

Highlights:

“We have received investment worth Rs 2,000 crore in telecom and Rs 500 crore in IT and IT-enabled services since 2001-2002,” information technology minister Manab Mukherjee said. In his budget speech in the Assembly, the minister described the growth as “phenomenal”.

The government hopes to earn 10 per cent of the country’s revenue from the infotech sector by 2006-’07. “By 2010, we hope to earn 15 per cent of the country’s revenue from the IT sector,” Mukherjee said.

Efforts are on to get IT giant Infosys to invest in the state. Mukherjee pointed out that big players like IBM, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Cognizant Technology Solutions and ITC Infotech are here already.

Bangalore blight brightens up Bengal

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040730/asp/frontpage/story_3561111.asp

Highlights :

On August 16, information technology minister Manab Mukherjee, accompanied by IT secretary G.D. Gautama, will set off for Bangalore for a two-day roadshow. The duo will meet the heads of 15 top IT companies and showcase the state’s “intrinsic strengths”. The list includes Intel, SAP Labs, Mphasis, Texas Instruments and Max Healthscribe.

Premji’s words are music to the ears of Mukherjee and his team. Much to the liking of the Left government, the richest Indian talked about Calcutta, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai in the same breath naming cities where Wipro plans to invest.

Wipro has started working from a facility in the Salt Lake Electronics Complex and Premji — during his last meeting with the chief minister — indicated that he was keen to expand operations in Calcutta. He told Bhattacharjee that he was looking for a big plot of land in Rajarhat to set up a campus.

Wipro starts hiring for Kolkata centre

http://www.rediff.com/money/2004/jul/19wipro.htm

Highlights :

Wipro has set the ball rolling for its Kolkata centre, which would eventually house around 5,000 employees.

The company is on a major recruitment drive for its business process outsourcing and IT services and would have around 400 employees by September, of which around 50 would be from outside Kolkata.

The investment in the Kolkata centre, as of now, was more than Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) for a built-up space of three lakh square feet. The total built-up space would be arouund 500,000 sqaure feet, spread over 17 acre.

Wipro has also shown interest in acquiring 40-50 acres of land at Rajarhat, the new IT hub

Why are IT firms fleeing Bangalore?

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-793907,curpg-1.cms

Highlights:

Azim Premji seemed frustrated by Bangalore's poor infrastructure, high rates of employee attrition and fat salary bills as he followed up his company's result to say that Wipro's future investments would be made outside Bangalore for "there are opportunities outside Karnataka where talent is available, infrastructure is better and wages are lower".

Though Murthy seems to see the sunny side of Bangalore, the reality remains that the garden city where the average temperature never used go beyond 25c is in one of the worst stages of climatic transition with pollution choking the breath out of Bangloreiets. Water scarcity, power failures and a very industry unfriendly work culture are driving IT and BPO firms like Wipro, iGate and MphasiS to look towards cities like Chennai, Hyderabad and even Hubli, to expand operations.

BBN: Mission & Philosophy

MISSION:

The Bengali Business Network is a not-for-profit organization of Bay Area Bengalis with two objectives:

(1) Promote networking among Bengalis in the Bay Area for professional, business and entrepreneurial purposes.
(2) Promote Kolkata as the next big center for business (IT & others) growth.

PHILOSOPHY:
The Bengali Business Network seeks to be an open, inclusive, association agnostic organization with the sole purpose of achieving the above stated goals. It expects all its members to respect this philosophy and work towards this common objective.

DETAILS:
We feel that most of the other communities in the Bay Area and elsewhere have a very strong network which helps the members of the communities in job searches, providing guidance for entrepreneurial activities and providing business contact for professional activities, etc. We want to achieve the same for the Bengali community here.

In the recent past there have been many reports of alternate cities vying for the spot for the next big IT center in India (after Bangalore). We strongly feel that Kolkata should be the next big center if not the biggest center. As professionals and entrepreneurs in the Bay Area with strong interest in Kolkata (and Bengal at large) we would like to help convert this dream into reality.

If you are a member of the community and passionately believe in the goals of the group and are willing to put in some time and effort in meeting the group's goals, then please come and join this group.

Thank you!

Current BBN members.

Cheerleader-in-Chief

INTERVIEW: BUDDHADEB BHATTACHARJEE, CHIEF MINISTER, WEST BENGAL

Under him, communist Calcutta is embracing capitalism, compelling labour unions to think twice before calling strikes and rolling out the red carpet for tech companies

A LONGTIME POLITICIAN in India's communist party, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee became chief minister of the state of West Bengal in 2000. Since then, he's been on a mission to win investment and change perceptions of the state and its capital, Calcutta. He spoke with REVIEW correspondent Joanna Slater at his office in Calcutta's historic Writers Building.

WHEN YOU BECAME CHIEF MINISTER, YOU ADOPTED THE SLOGAN "DO IT NOW." WHAT DID YOU MEAN?
It's a very competitive world. Different states are competing among themselves [for investment]. Therefore I have to perform--perform or perish. We must get rid of "red-tape-ism" and bureaucratic bungling. If I fail to "do it now," then other states will defeat us.

But I know that just because there's a slogan, it doesn't mean that one fine morning all government employees and officers will change their minds. I have to hammer it, time and again.

WHY DID CALCUTTA HAVE SUCH A NEGATIVE REPUTATION AMONG BUSINESSMEN?
In the past, we committed certain mistakes in the trade unions. Sometimes their behaviour was beyond our control. Now we say, look, we won't allow this sort of agitation or intimidation. Wherever I go, either in the chambers of commerce or in the trade unions, I say we want harmonious relations between management and labour. Labour must also understand that competition, productivity, quality of production--this isn't only management's headache. Labourers have to share it, otherwise the industry will collapse and you'll lose jobs.

Another problem we had was because some are still afraid of leftists. If you can do business in China, why not in West Bengal? We have no hidden agenda. We are not fools. Communists are changing the world over, and we are also changing. Now I think the major corporate houses in India understand that we are investment-friendly.

ISN'T IT A CONTRADICTION FOR A MARXIST PARTY TO DISCOURAGE STRIKES?
No. We want to develop West Bengal--in agriculture, in industry, in other areas. Therefore we want stability and peace. Enough is enough. We won't allow any irresponsible behaviour or activities in the name of trade unions. But we don't want slave workers, either. Sometimes workers are being neglected or exploited, so we have to protect their interests also. We have to make a balance.

TODAY CALCUTTA IS ATTRACTING INFORMATION-TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT FROM COMPANIES LIKE IBM AND WIPRO. BUT AT ONE POINT YOUR PARTY HELPED PROTEST THE ADVENT OF COMPUTERS

That was in the 1970s--that was foolish, foolish. It started when they were going to introduce computers in banks and [insurance companies]. Their employees protested and we supported it. But how can you stop modern technology? Nowadays they have understood . . . We have entered a century where industries will be talent-based.

DID YOU EVER THINK FIVE OR TEN YEARS AGO THAT CALCUTTA WOULD DEVELOP AN INFORMATION-TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY?

No. We are a late starter, I must admit it. But now things are changing. I went to Hyderabad two months back and met [Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister] Chandrababu Naidu. I jokingly told him, "I'm a late starter but I'm going to come defeat you in two or three years."

WHAT DID HE SAY?
He said, "All right, let us compete."

WOULD YOU SAY YOU'RE WEST BENGAL'S CHIEF SALESMAN?
[Laughs] I don't like this corporate language.

Calcutta On a Roll

Watch out, Bangalore! Investors are flocking to Calcutta--a city better known for urban squalor than tech savvy--as it seeks to become India's surprise new hi-tech hub

FOR YEARS, this teeming city on India's eastern coast watched as other places in the country grabbed investment and headlines. With its boxy yellow taxis and crumbling colonial-era buildings, Calcutta seemed frozen in an older, slower era.

Now, the rapid changes taking place here show how outsourcing is helping to transform unexpected corners of India. Long neglected by investors, Calcutta is attracting technology companies ranging from IBM to India's Wipro thanks to its intellectual talent and low costs. Software engineers who sought opportunity far from their home towns are returning. And the communist state government has called in consultancy McKinsey & Co. to help lure tech firms.

"When I left Calcutta, I was a pessimist," says Shirsendu Halder, 36, who spent five years in the United States with drug giant Aventis. "I didn't think the situation here would change so fast and so radically." He recently returned to his home town to work at a software company that's 50% owned by United Airlines.

Calcutta's resurgence is part of a larger dynamic that's playing out in other Indian cities as the flow of outsourcing-related investment seeps into different parts of the country. General Electric is doing call-centre work in Jaipur, the capital of the desert state of Rajasthan. Infosys Technologies has set up a software-development centre in Trivandrum, a city in the southern state of Kerala. And tech companies of all types have flocked to Pune, a university town three hours' drive from Mumbai.

But the changes are especially dramatic in Calcutta, until recently considered a city in terminal decline. Once the capital of British India, Calcutta experienced a long and painful deterioration in the decades since India's independence. When a communist-led government took power in the surrounding state of West Bengal in 1977 after a decade of political instability, businesses fled the city and strikes became a regular occurrence. To the outside world, Calcutta--now officially known as Kolkata--was synonymous with the charity of Mother Theresa and the worst kind of urban squalor.

Of course, the blight of poverty remains as a constant reminder of how far the city--and India--still have to go. But things are changing noticeably around the edges. The government is racing to build a huge new software park to complement an existing one that's almost full. IBM plans to double its staff in the city to 4,000 by the end of the year, making Calcutta the company's second-largest centre in India after Bangalore. An unprecedented building boom is producing large housing developments with names like "Silver Spring" and "South City." And locals are flocking to several brand-new malls complete with multiplex cinemas and cafes.

"Calcutta has really suffered from perception," says Rahul Saraf, the developer of a bustling new downtown mall with two more under construction. "The generation that saw the city gradually lose its glory went into a shell . . . The next generation wants to emulate exactly what's happening elsewhere in the world."

Underpinning the progress is a significant change in approach by the state government in West Bengal: It's still communist, but no longer hostile to business. The pragmatism is born of necessity. In the most-recent nationwide job survey conducted in 1999 and 2000, unemployment in West Bengal was 15%.

To bring in new investment and jobs, government ministers have publicly discouraged the city's infamous strikes and met with businessmen in India and abroad to promote the state. One of those politicians is Nirupam Sen, a card-carrying communist activist since his student days and now the state's industry minister. He describes with enthusiasm efforts to bring in investors like PepsiCo and Mitsubishi Chemicals.

Sitting beneath a portrait of Vladimir Lenin in his office, Sen laughs when asked how the man on his wall would view such talk. "He said all theories come from ground realities, therefore first of all you have to be practical," he says. "I have to look for private investment otherwise there will be no investment."

The way the government tackled the problem of how to build the city's information-technology industry is a case in point. Not only was it getting off to a late start compared to elsewhere in the country, but Calcutta also suffered from a hugely negative reputation, particularly with respect to labour, say McKinsey consultants who helped advise the state government.

So it stressed the positive. Contrary to perception, the city's power supply is reliable, unlike in many parts of India. Costs are even lower than in Bangalore or Mumbai. And there's a huge supply of talent from nearby engineering schools, including the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur

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By Joanna Slater/CALCUTTA

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