Infosys to open 1,000-seat centre in Kolkata

BENGALURU: Infosys said on Monday that it would invest Rs 100 crore in the first phase of its development centre in a 50-acre facility in the Bengal Silicon Valley in Kolkata, nearly a decade after it first signed a pact with the West Bengal government to set up a unit in the state.

The centre will generate employment for over 1,000 engineers, the Bengaluru-based Infosys said in a statement.

In 2008, Infosys, during the tenure of former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had committed to invest Rs 500 crore in a facility that would generate 5,000 jobs. Infosys had acquired 50 acres of land near Rajarhat, which it surrendered after chief minister Mamata Banerjee raised objections in 2011 to tax incentives offered by the previous Left government.


Since then, the Trinamool Congress government had been wooing tech firms such as Infosys to set up units in the state.

“We gave up the earlier land,” said Ramadas Kamath, head of Infrastructure at Infosys. “In lieu of that, we got the new land.”

The West Bengal government has been promoting the state as a destination for software companies and has in the last few decades able to attract firms such as Cognizant, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services. Infosys entry into the state.