Edu-leaders

The central government has approved the plan to set up an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in West Bengal, the state's Information Technology Minister Debesh Das said here Thursday.

"The government of West Bengal has got an IIIT. The centre has sanctioned our proposal for setting up of the IIIT," Das said while addressing the inaugural ceremony of INFOCOM here.

"The centre will provide 50 percent of the cost, state will provide 35 percent and the rest will come from the industry," he added.

He, however, did not give details of the project.

"In 2006, the people working in the (infotech) sector was 32,000 and in 2010 it stood at 105,000. In 2006, IT export from the state was Rs.2,700 crore and in 2010, it became Rs.6,500 crore," Das said.

"In these four years (from 2006 to 2010), several IT firms, including Infosys, Wipro, TCS, Patni and Tech Mahindra, bought land for their campuses here," Das said.

"We have more potential. To use this potential we need things (infrastructure) to be tripled in the coming three to four years," he said.

Source: igovernment