Industry cautious on bandh, IT units determined

With another 24-hour bandh called by Forward Bloc and supported by all political parties in the Opposition, the industry is just disappointed.

Harsh K Jha, president, Indian Chamber of Commerce said that such frequent bandhs were not good for the state.

However he also pointed at the recent clashes in Mumbai.

"Look what happened in Mumbai...will that affect investments?...the answer is, 'no'. This is a short-term aberration, however, if it escalates into something bigger, it could have a long-term impact," he said.

Biswadip Gupta, chairman, Confederation of Indian Industry (eastern region) said tomorrow would be another of those black days. "It's the small and medium enterprises which suffer the most," he said.

Commenting on the issue, Atul Churiwal, president of the Merchants' Chamber of Commerce said, "As such a single bandh is unlikely to impact long-term investment set to flow into West Bengal. However, if such bandhs recur with regular frequency then it is going to change the investors' perception about the state's investment climate which has seen a sort of a revival after the Nandigram crisis."

Terming the firing as 'unfortunate', Churiwal said that his chamber took a strong exception to the bandh culture.

S Radhakrishnan, chairman of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry felt that the police firing and the bandh will not dent the favourable investment scenario of the state.

Citing the instance of the recent Mumbai violence, he said, Sporadic incidents of violence can occur anywhere but they don't affect investments.

The information technology sector (IT) in Kolkata hopes to see at least 60 per cent attendance on Wednesday.

There are about 300 IT companies in Sector V of Salt Lake, the hub of IT activities in the state. The sector currently employs around 55,000.

According to Debanjan Datta, managing director of Webel, a government of West Bengal undertaking, "We have asked a few of the employees to stay back on Tuesday night especially the ones who travel long distance. For others, we have arranged point pick-ups. We have also held meetings with the police to ensure employees reach office safely before 6am. We will not issue any stickers."

According to Kalyan Kar, managing director of Acclaris, one of the larger IT companies operating from Sector V, "About 20-odd employees will stay back tonight at our guesthouse. For the rest we will provide pick-up before 6 in the morning. These will leave office post 7pm on Wednesday."

Acclaris has 400 employees currently.

Cognizant, which has 4,500 employees working at its Sector V office, has thrown open to employees the option of taking an off-day on Wednesday and making up for it on the following Saturday.

According to a spokesperson of Cognizant, "We will provide pick-up to our employees at around 5 in the morning. Nobody will stay back on Tuesday night to avoid any bandh mishap on Wednesday. But employees also have the option of avoiding office on Wednesday and making up for it on Saturday."