'State mulls policy to encourage innovation'

KOLKATA: The Bengal government is actively considering a policy to encourage innovation, the state's Industry and IT minister Partha Chatterjee said on Thursday.

Chatterjee also said the state is slowly becoming home to a number of unicorns (private entities valued at USD 1 billion or above). "The government is actively considering coming out with a policy to boost innovation," he said during a virtual address at the ABP Infocom. The minister said the government has already announced a data centre policy aimed at making the state a hub of data handling and storage. Fiscal incentives like exemption of stamp duty, registration fees and electricity charges will be considered for any transaction related to data centres, he said.

Chatterjee said the IT

sector in Bengal contributes 10 per cent to the state GDP, and employs around two lakh professionals.

He also said the state has extended all support for setting up of a submarine cable landing station by Reliance Jio.