No plan to surrender Bengal land: Infosys

IT major Infosys said it would not give up the 50-acre land it has been allotted for its maiden campus in West Bengal, even as the project is to take off due to deadlock over the issue of SEZ status for over 2 years.

The company is open to considering an alternative model with SEZ-like benefits for its Rajarhat campus in the eastern fringes of Kolkata, but said it is upto the state government to come up with a substitute to attract investments.

Replying to specific query, Infosys Executive Vice- Chairman S (Kris) Gopalakrishnan said the company would not give up the land provided to it by the state. The state had earlier allotted 50 acres of land to the company for Rs 75 crore (Rs 750 million).

On the alternative model for the project, he said: "It is not necessary that the SEZ tag is important for us. We are ready to accept any other alternative avenue of the associated SEZ benefits are given."

…

In a SEZ (Special Economic Zone), tax credits are given to units which was 100 per cent for the first five years, 50 per cent for the next five years and 50 per cent for the remaining period, he said.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee said he would talk to Gopalakrishnan about the company's proposed Kolkata project.

To a query about the Infosys project, Chatterjee said: "I will meet him (Kris Gopalakrishnan)."

However, the Minister refused to answer a specific query on whether any alternate plan has been finalised.

Infosys campus is yet to come up because the Trinamool Congress-led state government is not keen on granting SEZ status as a policy.

…

"There are places where these benefits are given through SEZs. Any government will like to attract investments. There could be other options. It is up to the state government to figure that out," Gopalakrishnan said.

Besides Infosys, Wipro was also stuck on the similar issue for its second unit also at Rajarhat.

"It is a competitive environment, one should understand that," the Infosys Vice Chairman said.

Referring to contentious land issue, he said that big projects required huge tracts of land. "In this regard, the state government has a role to play," he said.

"I hope the West Bengal government will be able to address the issue. Ultimately, land has to be acquired for large projects", he said.