IT Lands in Kolkata

The emergence of more and more IT parks proves that the city is finally
coming of age in attracting large investments by major IT companies. True, even
local entrepreneurship is crucial but infrastructure can only develop optimally
once the large IT majors start pouring in.

With Sector V in Salt Lake now established as the city's major IT hub and
on the verge of exhaustion, it is high time Kolkata starts looking at other
ventures beyond Sector V. With space not really available in the heart of the
city, it does not come as a surprise that most private builders are looking at
real estate in and around Salt Lake to establish their IT parks. Under Phase 1
of the Knowledge Corridor project, about 200 acres of land is available at
Rajarhat New Town (about 3 km from Sector V) earmarked for both IT as well as
ITeS units. In addition, an IT park of about 40 acres space is coming up at
Sunrise City. It is estimated that in the next 24-36 months, about 13 mn sq ft
of built-up space is going to be added in phases.

Amongst the private builders, the DLF Group is developing an IT park in
Rajarhat that will add 1.3 mn sq ft of space. This Rs 280 crore project to be
built on a 10 acre plot will make it the largest IT park in the country. The
first phase of this park is getting commissioned this month itself. Both
Singapore-based Ascendas as well as electronics major Videocon are going to set
up their facilities here, creating 2 mn sq ft of space each. These facilities
will come up in the next 24 months in phases. Incidentally, Videocon is building
the park next to its factory premises only.

Several other walk-in infrastructure projects are also on the verge of
completion. Chinese company Unitech has been allotted 50 acres of space while
Keepeland has got 15 acres for developing IT parks in Rajarhat. Infinity Tower
II to be built on 1.80 lakh sq ft, Infinity Benchmark on 5.50 lakh sq ft,
Infinity Waterside on 5.30 lakh sq ft, and Technopolis on 6.75 lakh sq ft are
also in the offing. Further, two Super Tower facilities of 3 lakh sq ft each at
Bengal Intelligent Park and Techna Plot, along with a 3 lakh sq ft
infrastructure of the PS Group are also coming up. The other worth mentioning
infrastructure project is the Millenium Park which will be on 2.80 lakh sq ft.

With infrastructure developing at a fast clip, investments into Kolkata are
also coming up at a matching speed. All large players in the city including TCS,
Cognizant, IBM and Wipro are expanding while new players are also starting up in
2005. HSBC is starting its BPO operations in the city in September while GECIS
has been allotted land in Salt Lake to start their own facility. Incidentally,
GECIS is already operating from a rented premise albeit in a small manner. ICICI
OneSource has already finalized land in Salt Lake, while Reliance Infocom's
second largest facility, after DAKC in Navi Mumbai, would also come up by the
year end.

Rajneesh De