West Bengal government to unveil incentive policy for IT sector

KOLKATA: The West Bengal government would soon unveil a new incentive policy for the IT sector in the state, Commerce and Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee said.

"We are revisiting the incentive policy of the IT sector in the state. We are also redesigning our IT policy which has been drafted after receiving suggestions from persons like N R Narayana Murthy and others," Chatterjee said at 'ICT East', organised by CII here today.

The new incentive policy and the IT policy would be placed before the Cabinet soon, he said, adding that the state government had urged software developer Microsoft to do something for the state.

"I have requested Microsoft India chief Bhaskar Pramanik to help the state in skill development in the education sector," he said, adding, he had also urged the industry to collaborate with the state in developing IT hubs in each district.

"We will create IT hubs in each district to create jobs. The government would encourage vertical expansion of the IT industry and not horizontal expansion as it will require less land."

The state was also proposing to set up hardware hubs at Bolpur, Kalyani and Rajarhat, he said.