Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said the state will announce the new IT policy in January 2018 during the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS).

“We have decided that we will be announcing our new IT policy in the upcoming BGBS meet which will take place in January,” she said while addressing INFOCOM 2017.

She also said the state is ready to give more importance to the IT industry and is keen to provide various sops in terms of property tax relief and other subsidies.

Taking a dig at the Left Front government which ruled the state for 34 years, for not giving a boost to the IT sector, she said: “Earlier, the state government was not interested for this particular sector. I do not know why? But we started thinking. IT companies are now expanding their businesses here.”

There is enough space available in the state for the IT sector which can potentially create 2.6 lakh jobs by using this space, she said, adding that apart from the state capital, space is available in IT parks in various cities like Siliguri, Burdwan and Kalyani.

She claimed that the state is the “pioneer” of the digitisation programme and especially in digital transformation which enabled the state government to double its revenue.

Inviting industry captains from IT and ITes to invest in the state, she said the attrition rate in Bengal was considerably low at about three per cent as compared to other states.

She urged industries to invest in the state as it is “strategically, geographically and politically safe”.

—IANS