Hutch Essar plans to scale up Bengal investment

Hutchison Essar has decided to invest Rs 950 crore in West Bengal over the next five years, taking its total investment in the state to Rs 1,800 crore.

Asim Ghosh, managing director, Hutchison Essar, said that the total investment in the Kolkata circle would be Rs 580 crore and in the state circle Rs 370 crore over the next five years. Hutchison's investment in India till date has been in the region of Rs 6,000 crore.

With the increase in its scale of operations, Hutchison's employment level would also increase. Direct employment in Kolkata, which was at 425 would increase to 600 while West Bengal circle would have 375 employees.

Direct and indirect employment over the next five years in West Bengal including Kolkata would be 15,000. Ghosh reassured that the work ethic in West Bengal was as good as anywhere in the country.

Hutchison has chalked out its strategy for the new West Bengal licence and planned to cover 117 towns covering 16 district headquarters and over 100 talukas in the first year of operations. Over the next five years, 600 base towers would be installed to cater to the needs of West Bengal circle.

On the performance side, Ghosh said that even though average revenue per user (ARPU) was dropping on a national level, volumes were increasing.

Commenting specifically on Kolkata, he said that the middle class population in Kolkata was much higher than that in Delhi or Mumbai and Hutchison was in the process of setting up a special cell for the low rent post-paid product. The subscriber base in Kolkata is 5.5 lakh.

Ghosh met the state It secretary G D Gautama. Sources said, Gautama gave a brief presentation on the potential of Kolkata as an ITES destination. When asked about the proposed initial public offering (IPO), Ghosh refused to comment.