The state government, which is creating new IT Parks in a war footing, will promote the same
among the entrepreneurs. West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation Limited (Webel), a nodal agency of state government to develop IT in the state, will start the promotional campaign from Asansol IT Park on Friday.
The government will organise seminars among the entrepreneurs and the senior officers of the state Information Technology and Electronics department will answer questions asked by the entrepreneurs regarding the booking of space in the IT Parks.
"We are really hopeful to meet some exciting youth entrepreneurs there. I know that there are many talented youth who are waiting for the right opportunity to do IT business," said a senior officer of state IT department.
The IT department initially is not expecting to get a large number of entrepreneurs to book spaces in the IT Parks across Bengal but the spaces will be filled in course time.
"We are not expecting a huge number of entrepreneurs from tier-2 and tier-3 cities. But we are sure that some talented people will come to acquire spaces," the officer added.
The Bengal government has around seven lakh square feet space available across 18 IT parks across the state. As many as 12 out of 18 IT Parks are already in operation and six more will be ready by the end of this year. This apart, four more IT parks will be set up in the near future.
"We will provide spaces against a reasonable rate thus benefitting the new entrepreneurs," the officer said.
The state, which is aiming to become one of the top three states in IT, ITeS and Hardware Sectors by 2020, have set up IT parks in Siliguri Phase I and II, Durgapur, Asansol, Borjora, Rajarhat, Haldia, Kharagpur, Kalyani, Howrah, Purulia, Krishnagar, Bolpur, Malda, Bantala, Taratala and Cooch Behar. Two hardware parks in Sonarpur and Kalyani and two Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMCs) will also be set up in Naihati and Falta.
IT Parks, hardware parks and EMCs are much sought after projects of the government. Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC), the project of the state IT department, promises 37,000 employments. These clusters are situated in South 24 Parganas' Falta and Naihati of North 24 Parganas. The Falta EMC, which is being constructed on a 58 acre land on the shore of river Hooghly and approximately 27 km away from Haldia Port, has already received the Centre's approval.
It may be mentioned that Bengal is the only state in India where IT parks spreads across the state. "You can see many well-equipped IT Parks in South Indian states and in Noida. But you cannot find IT parks spread across the state anywhere in India except Bengal," the officer further said.
It may also be maintained that the state government earlier declared that it would continue to work to increase the state share in production of electronics goods up to 15 per cent by 2020.