State govt striving to make Bengal the next IT hub, says Babul Supriyo

Kolkata: State Information Technology and Electronics (IT&E) minister Babul Supriyo on Friday said that the Bengal government is trying to make the state the next IT hub of the country.

The minister said: “Recently, I went to Bengaluru where an association proudly presented to me saying that 17-20 lakh Bengalis work in the IT sector there, but I found the number disappointing because that is the amount of brains we have from Bengal.”

On Friday, on the occasion of the 8th edition of TechMeet organised by the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM), Supriyo mentioned that if the companies want to address a new market where there are a lot of facilities and incentives given by the government, their first choice should be Bengal. Principal Secretary of the IT&E, Rajeev Kumar said that the machines have learned to understand languages. Artificial Intelligence (AI) will reach its potential soon so people have to adjust to it in the next 10 to 20 years.

Apart from Supriyo and Kumar, Managing Director (MD) of Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) was also present at the programme.