Consider Bengal to be your home & make plans to invest here: Mamata

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged businessmen to invest in Information Technology (IT) in Bengal which is set to be the future destination in the country and perhaps the whole world.

She laid the foundation stone of the Bengal Silicon Valley Hub at New Town on Monday evening. Terming it as "historic," Banerjee said: "We were not there when investment in IT started in Hyderabad and Bengaluru. But now, both the places are saturated and Bengal is coming up as the next destination. Invest in Bengal and the state government will provide every facility," she said.

The proposed hub is coming up in 100 acre of land and "if needed, we will provide another 100 acre," she added.

Banerjee maintained that there is no dearth of talent in Bengal. "You will find IT professionals from Bengal working in Hyderabad and Bengaluru and in many foreign countries as well. They will come back if you can give them proper infrastructure and respect. And I believe, they can do miracles," she pointed out.

Urging strong investments in the IT sector in Bengal, she stated the talent pool in Bengal is very high and the attrition rate is as low as 3 percent. The state government has land banks and land-use policy. "Consider Bengal to be your home and make plans to take the state forward. We are there to give you all the support. Consider us to be one of your family members," she said. The Chief Minister said the situation in Bengal has changed drastically over the past few years. "There was a time when people did not want to invest in Bengal because of bandhs and strikes. The man-days loss amounted to 70 lakh and now it has been brought down to zero. I do not support bandhs and always believe in positive and not negative approach."

Banerjee inaugurated three IT parks at Malda, Siliguri (Phase III) and Purulia. She congratulated the budding industrialists who have invested in the IT parks. Ramdas Kamath, the senior vice-president, Infosys, said well-known architect Hafiz Contractor has designed its building that will come up in New Town.

"We will take 15 months to complete the building which will be a landmark site representing neo-classical architecture in Bengal. He especially thanked Debashis Sen, Additional Chief Secretary, state IT Department and Swarup Roy, Advisor, IT Promotion Cell for their tireless efforts to bring Infosys to Bengal.

Describing Mamata Banerjee as "the best Chief Minister in the country," Sanjiv Goenka said: "This is the best place to invest and the state government is ready to give every support. I do business in many states but in Bengal, the support I receive from the Chief Minister, her colleagues and the bureaucrats is remarkable."

Top officials of IT companies including TCS, Cognizant, Oracle India, Sify Technologies Limited, HPE-Aruba, DQE, Capgemini were also present at the event.