Bengali Business Network(BBN)

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.