The Hindu Business Line : Bengal IT firms urged to focus on home market

IT would auger well for IT and ITES companies in West Bengal to focus on the "industrial expertise concept" and concentrate on select verticals or horizontals such as testing and security and controls, instead of operating on broad-based and generic spheres, according to Mr Ambarish Dasgupta, Director of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Addressing a symposium on `Projecting Kolkata as the most preferred IT destination in India' organised by the Merchants' Chamber of Commerce (MCC), Mr Dasgupta said that IT and ITES companies in the State need to focus on select verticals and horizontals instead of broad-based and generic areas.

"Besides, IT companies here must also focus on the domestic market because, if prospects on the exports front are down, they would have something to fall back upon."

According to him, in terms of State gross domestic product, West Bengal ranks third in the country.

In the last four years, IT companies operating out of the Salt Lake Electronics Complex have registered a growth of 300 per cent.

West Bengal's share of India's software exports now stands at 3.1 per cent, up from 2.1 per cent four years ago.

If the current rate of growth were any indication, West Bengal would rank among the top three IT States in the country by 2010.

Mr Dasgupta suggested that efforts must be made to create brand value for the State and attract captive outsourcing companies to West Bengal.

Mr Sudhir Mallick, Principal Consultant & Delivery Centre Head of TCS, stressed the need to put in place appropriate communications infrastructure and connectivity.

In his address, Mr Aditya V. Agarwal, President of MCC, said that while IT majors can obtain land from the State Government and set up their own facilities, smaller players need ready-to-use office space. "It would greatly benefit IT companies if the State Government could address this issue."

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