'Kolkata to emerge as epicentre of global financial activities by 2030'

KOLKATA: With the recent Mckinsey Global Institute report predicting Kolkata to be one of the three metros that will emerge as the epicentre of global financial activities by 2030, the state government is leaving no stone unturned to project itself as one of the major players in the financial world.

"If someone is seriously involved in top-ticket financial activities, he/she cannot really overfly Kolkata in the near future. That is how the city is evolving," stated Additional Chief Secretary, Information Technology & Electronics department Debashis Sen at InsureInd, organised by CII on Wednesday. "Kolkata is intrinsically in an advantageous position. If Mumbai is geographically close to New York and London, Kolkata is closer to Singapore and Hong Kong, the two international financial and business centres of Asia," he said. On the initiatives of the government in this direction, he mentions that the state is developing a financial hub in New Town where as many as 23 financial institutions have already taken up space. Sen maintained that his optimism rests on the fact that Asia is fast breaking the dominance of Silicon Valley in the US. "This has been reflected in the way Asian entities such as Baidu, WeChat, Alibaba are stealing a march on their famed peers such as Google, Facebook, WhatsApp and Amazon. Places like Singapore, Shanghai in Asia are contributing to this phenomenal trend," he said.

According to Sen, by virtue of its relative proximity to Singapore and Hong Kong, Kolkata stands a brighter chance. The Bengal government has come up with a centre of excellence in cyber security as well.

"We are coming up with a Centre of Innovation at Bantala which is expected to be operational by the second half of 2019," Sen added.