A New IT Sunrise

Top firms are flocking to IT hubs in the West Bengal capital, attracted by the excellent infrastructure and the talent pool that returned home during Covid. But this silent revolution is not without challenges

- By ARKAMOY DATTA MAJUMDAR

Salt Lake in Kolkata was once known for its serene water bodies girdled by enticing walking trails and manicured gardens. Today, pockets of that tranquility remain, but much of its skyline, especially in Sector V and the nearby New Town, is dominated by towering glass-and-steel office complexes, tech parks and sleek corporate campuses that house global Information Technology (IT) giants, BPOs and fintech startups. It is now regarded as the digital pulse of Bengal's capital city and is riding the crest of a remarkable IT wave that has earned it the sobriquet Silicon Valley of the East. While many of the IT firms had set up show in the previous decade, the zone is experiencing a second boom. In the past seven years, it has expanded to 1,500-odd IT firms employing over 260,000 people. As a result, according to the Union government's Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), Kolkata's IT and IT-enabled Services (ITeS) exports have more than doubled from Rs 6,684 crore in FY18 to Rs 14,268 crore in FY25. It began in earnest with Bengal Silicon Valley (BSV), a technology hub with a 250-acre notified area and world-class infrastructure that was set up in 2018, and improvement in infrastructure in Sector V and New Town. Another fillip came with the displacement during the Covid-19 pandemic, when a large number of tech professionals returned home to Kolkata. Top firms soon realised the sheer number of employees from Bengal and the chances of expansion, all of which made for perfect business sense. The biggies like IBM, Microsoft, Wipro, TCS and Tech Mahindra who set up shop much earlier have in the past three years been joined by well-known firms such as Calsoft, Zensar, LTI Mindtree, Grant Thornton and McKinsey. The newer lot have taken up close to a million square feet of space and have generated 20,000-plus jobs.

A Sector Transformed