Dec date for Wipro, IBM

KOLKATA: Software and information technology enabled services (ITES) majors Wipro and IBM will begin their much-awaited operations in the city in December.
According to state IT department officials, Wipro will generate jobs for 2,500 software engineers, while IBM will offer employment to 200 people in addition to 400 jobs already created at the Pricewaterhouse Coopers complex at Salt Lake.
Wipro chief Azim Premji will lay the foundation stone for the sprawling Wipro-Spectramind complex spread over 12 acres at Salt Lake on December 13.
He will also attend the meeting of the CII national committee on December 12.
In the wake of the McKinsey recommendations, the state government will declare its new IT policy on the occasion.
The policy would assure the security of data processing and transactions in a bid to address the concerns of multinationals engaged in ITES sectors such as medical transcription, insurance claims or payroll processing, revenue accounting and international call centres.
"Companies are worried after their Chinese experience where they faced data as well as software piracy," said an official of the state information department. The new policy will relax rules further, allowing IT companies to set up units in residential areas and exempting them from pollution control clearances and other related regulations.
The government is setting up an ''IT promotion cell'' with professionals from WEBEL and other organisations for smooth implementation of the decisions. The state''s consultant McKinsey will brief them shortly.
The state government will co-sponsor a conference of top ITES executives and software gurus focusing on the East, including Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, during the CII meet.
IBM, the joint host of the programme, has also agreed to set up a software development centre in the state following a meeting with minister Manab Mukherjee and departmental secretary Debiprasad Patra last week. Upbeat officials hope to rope in another US multinational, GE, during the meet to start its IT-enabled operations here. GE India chief Pramod Bhasin will be present at the meeting. Moves are afoot to implement the recommendations to upgrade the educational infrastructure for producing more IT-literate commerce graduates and engineers and promoting computer literacy. Development of English skills, including spoken English as extracurricular or additional courses in Bengali medium colleges, is also on the cards.
Chief secretary S.N. Roy will soon review computer training in schools with education officials.