Infosys' land search for Kolkata centre continues

An Infosys Technologies' team today saw yet another piece of land for a possible development centre in Kolkata.

Infosys is planning a facility for at least 5,000 people, at an investment of Rs 250 crore, in West Bengal. The project entails a minimum land requirement of 100 acres.

The site seen today is near Rajarhat and around 20 minutes away from the airport. Infosys representatives - H R Binod, senior vice president, (commercial and facilities) and Niladri Mishra, regional manager, based in Bhubaneshwar- were offered 100 acres at the site.

The land would be acquired by West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC). WBIDC was in the process of acquiring 750-800 acres, of which 100 acres was offered to Infosys.

Infosys was earlier shown sites at Bantala and Rajarhat for its proposed centre.

However, prices at Rajarhat at Rs 2.16 crore per acre as demanded by the Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) were considered prohibitively high.

State government sources said, the Infosys team in its last trip had said that land price should be comparable to that prevailing in other cities - Rs 20-35 lakh per acre.

Negotiations on price would start once Infosys finalises the land but it would be much less than the rates at Rajarhat. However, it was understood that the land was low-lying, sources said.

The Infosys representatives met state information technology (IT) minister, Debesh Das and commerce and industry secretary, Sabyasachi Sen.