Bengal emerging as India’s new IT capital, says TMC
Times of India | 7 December 2024
Kolkata: Bengal was emerging as India's new IT capital, Trinamool's Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose said on Friday. Highlighting the state's growing business prominence in Upper House, she said, "in Bengal, we mean business". Ghose's statement came after junior minister for corporate affairs Harsh Malhotra told Parliament on Wednesday that more than 2,200 companies had moved their registered offices out of Bengal in five years, with at least 39 of them being listed entities.
Malhotra's reply, in response to a set of questions from BJP Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya, prompted TMC to call the questions "biased and loaded".
"In Bengal, we mean business. The flagship Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) 2025 kicks off in Feb 2025. Ahead of the summit, some salient facts: Bengal is number one in ease of doing business according to SKOCH report 2021; of the 9 major cement companies, all operate in Bengal. Bengal is known as the ‘cement hub' of India. Bengal is emerging as India's new IT capital. WIPRO, Cognizant, Infosys and others all operate in Bengal and Bengal's Silicon Valley Tech Hub has been established acr-oss 200 acres in Rajarhat New Town," Ghose posted on X.
She added: "Bengal's handloom industry is on an upward trajectory, employing 5.4 lakh workers, the second highest in India... Today, major companies such as ITC, Shree Cements, Berger Paints, Ambuja Neotia Group, Titagarh Rail systems are operating successfully in Bengal. Bengal has 1.45 lakh active companies, the fourth highest in the country."
Another TMC Rajya Sabha MP, Saket Gokhale, highlighted toxic work culture and practise of making employees overwork in private workplaces across the country. ‘"Bengal Means Business' as we have 1.45 lakh active companies in our state. The IT sector in Bengal employs more than 2.6 lakh employees," Gokhale said in Parliament. Highlighting how Bengal has been neglected by Centre, he said: "People who worked in MGNERGA scheme in Bengal have not got their dues. We have pending dues of Rs 8,377 crore. Govt earns more revenue from income taxes of workers than corporate taxes."
Official state data indicates over 1,000 software and telecom firms — including WIPRO, Cognizant, Infosys, Reliance JIO, Airtel, Vodafone, ITC, L&T MindTree — employ approximately 2.6 lakh individuals. "TCS alone operating with 54,000 professionals is building another campus at Silicon Valley Tech Hub, which will employ 20,000 more. Total value of executed projects since 2011 is Rs 60,000 crores and 22 IT parks in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities are running at 85% capacity vis-a-vis entrepreneurs," the data says.
TMC MP Sushmita Dev said women-led MSMEs formed the backbone of any state and that in the last 10 years, 57 lakh new MSMEs have generated 1.3 crore jobs in Bengal.
The Bengal Global Business Summit is set to take place on Feb 5-6, 2025.