Infosys, the country's second largest software major has been looking for its
debut in West Bengal since 2004. Now, it seems the company has got tired of the
wait and is all set to halt its investments in Bengal. Close on the heels it
seems even Wipro has postponed its projects in the state.
Talking on the sidelines of the CII-ICT (East) Summit, S Gopalakrishnan, CEO
and MD, Infosys, said, “We want to wait for some time before launching our
project in Bengal and do not require any more land for any new infrastructure at
the moment. Also, we cannot chalk out a timeframe for the proposed facility in
Rajarhat”.
Infosys and Wipro had earlier expressed their willingness to invest about Rs
500 crore each in the project. For the unexpected halt in their plans for the
project, Infosys clearly blamed the global meltdown stressing that the company
is now looking for acquisitions. “I can't commit anything on the (Bengal)
project, but we are one of the happy customers here in Bengal,” Suresh Senapaty,
Executive Director, Wipro said.
Earlier, at the same venue, IT Minister, West Bengal, Debesh Das had declared
that the state had almost arranged the promised land in Rajarhat and will hand
over the same by December this year. Also, the IT Minister said that ITC
Infotech and other IT firms want to have their share in the proposed 600 acre
hub in Rajarhat. “The entire process of land aggregation is complete. In the IT
hub-cum-residential project in Rajarhat, we will be offering 600 acres of land
and Infosys will have 90 acres while Wipro will get 100 acres of allocation. The
process of mutation and conversion is under way and hopefully by December, the
entire process will be complete” Das said.
Talking about the slowdown Senapaty said, “Slowdown has affected plans across
the whole spectrum of the company. When we get back to recovery and hiring
people, Bengal is a good location for us to add a headcount.”
Projecting a zero growth situation this FY, Infosys is now concentrating on
acquisitions in 'new geographies.'