July 4, 2015
Job boom in Bengal infotech industry
The infotech sector in Bengal is on a recruitment drive. As many as 50,000 jobs will be created in 15 IT parks being set up in the state and as part of hiring plans of industry majors such as Wipro, Cognizant and TCS.
Bengal finance and industries minister Dr Amit Mitra, who is also in charge of information technology department, said at least eight of the 15 IT parks will be ready by the end of July or early August. These include the IT hubs in Rajarhat, Asansol, Durgapur Phase-II, Barjora, Purulia, Bolpur, Kharagpur and Siliguri Phase-II.
In the private sector, Wipro has assured the recruitment of 2,400 employees by this fiscal, he said. “The Wipro CEO told me that they are in the process of expanding their Saltlake facility for an additional 2,400 employees,” Dr Mitra said.
He added that Cognizant had promised to hire 5,000 employees this fiscal and has already recruited 1,500. “The vice-president of Cognizant has said he would take the total number of employees to 18,000 here.”
The minister added that TCS will be ready with its second campus soon. The campus will have an employment capacity of about 20,000.
Big numbers
The state government aims to create at least 20,000 jobs in 15 IT parks. Nasscom has come forward to promote the hubs in Kalyani, Durgapur and Siliguri.
“Work is proceeding at a fast pace in seven other locations as well (other than the eight almost ready),” said Mitra. These include Kalyani, Howrah, Haldia, Taratala, Bantola, Malda and Krishnanagar.
Mitra also spoke of a hardware hub in Sonarpur that will be operational in two months and will house small and medium enterprises. Additionally, Naihati and Palta will soon have one electronic manufacturing hub each.
