August 17, 2014
WB Govt to hunt for foreign monorail partners
The Bengalgovernment is looking at joint ventures with foreign partners for the proposedmonorail project in Rajarhat New Town. It will also scout for partners inSingapore during Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee's visit.
“We already havesome proposals for possible joint ventures for the monorail system.Singapore-based companies have expertise in light rail transit. We will give aproposal to some Singapore-based companies for the project,” said UrbanDevelopment Minister Firhad Hakim.
Commerce, Industries and IT ministerAmit Mitra had said that Infosys would eventually come to Bengal as TCS, Wiproand Cognizant already had a base in the state.
“Theattrition rate in West Bengal is 10%, some are saying it is as low as 3-4%. Thenational survey is saying the state is no.1 in productivity of ITprofessionals. Such business opportunities shouldn't keep Infosys out forlong,” Mitra said.
According tohim, the biggest IT contract in West Bengal, worth Rs 140 crore, realted tohanding over panchayat money using the bio-metric system, was awarded to TCSafter transparent competitive bidding.
“They havecommitted 20,000 additional IT professionals and are setting up a 40-acrecampus. Cognizant is recruiting 5,000 people. HSBC has the back office of itsinternational work in Kolkata, where 4,000 people are employed. In 201314, thestate's share of IT exports stood at 18%, higher than in 2012-13. Total exportsfrom West Bengal are of Rs 63,000 crore, an increase of 12-13%.
TheFederation of Indian Export Organizations met us and said it would double theamount in four years,” he said.
