"Quality talent is the greatest asset that West Bengal has"

Dr G D Gautama, principal secretary of the Department of Information Technology, Government of West Bengal, spoke to JOY ROY CHOUDHURY on the current IT scenario in the state—and how the department plans to make West Bengal one of the top-three IT destinations in the country by 2010

l What is the present situation in terms of development of IT in Kolkata, both for setting up new facilities and expansion?

Big companies like IBM, TCS, PwC, Cognizant and SkyTech have found the city an ideal destination and are multiplying their capacity manifold. Wipro, in addition to its present 12-acre facility, has been allotted an additional 4.3 acres of land in Salt Lake. The company has requested an additional 50 acres at the New Township coming up at Rajarhat. Satyam has announced that their next development centre will be based at Kolkata; land for this purpose has already been allocated.

What makes Kolkata a preferred IT destination?

Kolkata has the requisite environment coupled with a variety of advantages for exponential growth of the IT and ITeS sectors. In its recently published study, Hewitt Associates has projected Kolkata as the next preferred ITeS destination in view of the huge competitive advantages the city offers. Kolkata has a huge reservoir of talent, offers the lowest cost of operations, lowest attrition and good power availability.

In the recent past, the state government launched some e-governance projects. What’s their current status?

The WBSWAN—West Bengal State Wide Area Network—connects 18 district headquarters to the state headquarters over a 2 Mbps leased line and transmits data, voice and video. Eight sub-divisions have also been connected to the respective district headquarters over a 2 Mbps-leased line transmitting data and voice.

Through the government-to-citizen portal, anybody can access required information through the Internet. 82 kiosks have been created to provide services at a nominal fee.

Three major hospitals have been connected to rural hospitals to provide the benefits of their quality healthcare facilities to the rural populace. The systems operate on conventional telephone lines/ISDN—mostly on store and forward technology with live video and data session support. Almost 1,500 people have been treated so far.

The West Bengal Police is using IT as an effective tool for administration. More than 400 police stations are connected across the state.

A milestone project called ‘Computer-aided Text-to-Speech’ and ‘Text-to-Braille System’ has been developed; this will enable the visually-impaired to access and read documents from the Internet.

How are you addressing issues related to availability of bandwidth?

As of now bandwidth is being provided by BSNL or VSNL. Bharti’s network is also in place. Besides, Reliance’s network is at an advanced stage of implementation. These players provide alternatives to IT companies. They would also be signing SLAs guaranteeing uptime and quality of service.

Several IT infrastructure projects are coming up in the state. Real-estate giant, the DLF Group, is setting up an IT park. Could you tell us something about the ongoing projects?

The current IT hub at Sector V in the Salt Lake Electronics Complex is saturated. A 40-acre area at Sunrise City near E M Bypass is being developed for IT companies. It will have three million sq ft of space. Besides, 200 acres of land have been earmarked at New Township, Rajarhat, for the development of IT, ITeS and related activities. DLF’s IT Park at Rajarhat will add one million sq ft of space. Other projects like Infinity, Bengal Intelligent Park and Millennium Park are coming up with private initiative.

The government of West Bengal had approached the central government for setting up a Submarine Cable Landing Station at Haldia. What is the status of the project?

The western and southern parts of India are well-covered from the point of view of OFC connectivity due to VSNL’s Mumbai and Kochi landing stations, and Bharti’s Chennai landing station. There is no landing station in eastern and north-eastern India. Haldia is the ideal site for the landing station. Besides the domestic market, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar are other markets that could be created to through an international OFC cable landing in West Bengal. We have approached the central government for permission and are hopeful of a positive response.

What’s the status of the software technology parks at Durgapur and Kharagpur?

Durgapur has gone operational from April 1, 2004, Kharagpur is likely to be commissioned by the first of next month.

What are the steps taken by the state government to ensure availability of quality talent?

We have promoted the West Bengal University of Technology under which 65 private engineering colleges and business schools across the state have been established, including the state government-sponsored Indian Institute of Information Technology. This is in addition to the resources available from existing colleges like BE College, Jadavpur University, Indian Statistical Institute, IIT-Kharagpur and Rajabazar Science College at Kolkata, etc. These institutes provide quality talent, which is the greatest asset of our state. In addition, a huge number of English-speaking graduates are coming out every year in the state. The government of West Bengal has set up an academic council to address the needs of the industry and bridge the gap between demand and supply of talent.

Perceptions about West Bengal have been a serious impediment to the flow of IT investments to the state. How are you addressing this? Have you been able to reverse the trend?

We are fully aware of this and have taken several measures to correct this distortion. Let me say that the perception about the state is not borne out by ground realities, which are vastly different. If it were not so, the giants of the IT sector would not have been expanding at such a rapid pace in West Bengal. In addition, other big companies are exploring Kolkata and are setting up their facilities at a fast pace. We are holding road shows in different locations, participating in exhibitions and seminars, inviting investors to the city, and approaching embassies, consular corps and industry associations. This approach has paid dividends and people today are convinced about the value proposition of the city as a preferred IT destination.

How do you plan to achieve the state’s target of becoming one of the top three IT states in India by 2010, and contributing 15 percent of India’s total IT revenue?

The government has taken many initiatives. We are creating the requisite infrastructure facilities, both physical and social. At the policy level we have taken significant decisions. One such decision is to declare the IT and ITeS industry a public utility service. Besides, amendments have been made in relevant laws to match the requirements of the IT industry. We are constantly addressing issues relating to availability of requisite quality manpower to match our vision. We are sure to contribute our mite in view of the huge competitive advantage West Bengal has in this sector.