Mamata govt may review its stand on IT SEZ

The Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal might in its second innings look at granting special economic zones status to information technology (IT) companies.

The lack of such a status has been holding back companies like Infosys from investing, especially given the party's policies on land and industry.

No one was willing to spell out the government's action plan prematurely but a senior Trinamool leader pointed towards the party manifesto. "Read our manifesto, you will see that we have kept provisions for IT," he said.

The manifesto reads: "We will consider plans for knowledge-based industries like IT and industries that depend on intellectual resources. Coming up with special policies and schemes to facilitate the development of such industries will be our priority."
 

In 2011, the Trinamool manifesto had said the government would not allow special economic zones (SEZs) in West Bengal, to protect multi-crop lands. But this time the manifesto has been silent on SEZs. The government might draw a distinction between SEZs that require large tracts of land and granting SEZ status to IT companies that already have government land. A senior Infosys official said: "I was told that the government could look at IT differently as is probably mentioned in the election manifesto."

Infosys has been gung-ho about its proposed project in West Bengal. Ramadas Kamath, executive vice-president and head of infrastructure, facilities and administration at Infosys, said, "Right now, our SEZ is not approved by the state though they had given a specific letter earlier saying that they will do whatever is required to get it approved. We understand the government's concerns on land acquisition. But this land was acquired by the state government much before it was allotted to us. So there is no fresh displacement of landowners. Today, IT companies are not asking anything from the state government. For a level playing field, we need the SEZ approval. The state should say they don't have an objection. We will comply with the law of the land and bring growth to this area. We are very positive on the Kolkata location, which has a huge potential to grow."

The first option that the state government might opt for is offering Infosys space in one of the SEZs that are coming up, but that is unlikely to be accepted, as Kamath pointed out. "The place where we have got the land is the ideal place for the setting up of an IT industry, in terms of location advantage, proximity to the city and availability of residential accommodation in and around. And we feel that there will be a huge amount of indirect employment opportunities as well."

In 2012, the Trinamool government had tried to offer Infosys and Wipro (which was planning a second campus) a compensation package to match SEZ benefits reminiscent of the package offered to Tata Motors for its Nano project by the Left Front government.

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SEZ SAGA

• 2006: Left Front govt meets Infosys brass and invites them to set up a centre in West Bengal
   
• 2008: Bid to set up centre falls through after Kolkata Links project scrapped
   
• 2009: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee offers 45 acres in New Town Rajarhat at subsidised rates
   
• 2011: Trinamool Congress, which is opposed to the SEZ project, wins elections and forms government
   
• 2012: Trinamool government tries to negotiate an alternative package
   
• 2016: State govt weighs change in stance on IT SEZ