Bengal to give fresh push for IT units in Durgapur: Firhad Hakim
The Statesman | 21 August 2025
The state government, responding to investor demand, is preparing to strengthen infrastructure in order to attract more information technology units to Durgapur, state municipal and urban development minister Firhad Hakim said here today.
“I met a group of industrialists and investors today and learnt in detail about Durgapur’s transition from a steel city to a health hub. Investors now want to see it develop into an IT hub as well,” Hakim said. The minister attended meetings with officials and investors in phases at the Asansol Durgapur Development Authority (ADDA) and the Durgapur Municipal Corporation this afternoon. He was accompanied by state panchayat and rural development minister Pradip Majumdar and ADDA chairman Kabi Dutta.
In the early 2000s, Durgapur witnessed growth in IT-based units after the Centre established a Software Technology Park (STPI) in the Bidhannagar area of the town, attracting several companies. Of these, only four remain operational today. ADDA has now proposed an expansion of IT facilities centred around the STPI.
After the change in state leadership, the Mamata Banerjee government set up one operational hub of Webel, the state-run IT agency, with the aim of boosting IT activity. However, the response was lukewarm. Later, the state announced plans to set up an IT park within the Durgapur Aerotropolis project near the Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport in Andal, but this too failed to take off. Mr Hakim said: “Now that we are receiving interest from investors, we shall take this matter seriously.”
Hakim criticised the Left Front’s inertia in attracting IT industries, saying: “They used to propagate ‘automation anti-nation’, which forced potential investors to leave Bengal.” He added: “Our chief minister Mamata Banerjee has taken up the task of bringing IT giants like TCS, Wipro, Infosys and Cognizant back to Bengal.”
Cognizant had set up a unit in Bidhannagar in 2003, but later shut it down, leaving both employees and the local administration in difficulty. Mr Hakim said: “It is a challenging task to convince IT companies to return to our towns, as they left during the LF regime with bitter experiences. However, we will continue to pursue this with sincerity. ADDA has been working on infrastructure development in the area to accommodate new units.”
The minister also inaugurated two newly-refurbished floors of the ADDA building, which had been gutted in a major fire on 19 September, 2023.