West Bengal to set up IT hubs in all districts

Kolkata, July 26 : The West Bengal government Tuesday reiterated its position on giving more thrust to the information technology (IT) industry and said it will provide support to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for the overall growth and development of the industry.
"The government is committed towards giving more thrust to IT industry and IT enabled sector. We want the industry to top the charts. The government will provide all help possible to SMEs for their development," said state IT minister Partha Chatterjee at an interactive session organised by NASSCOM.
Chatterjee said the government was working hard for fulfilling its pre-poll promise of establishing IT hubs in all districts of the state.
"We are working towards setting up IT hubs in the districts. In pursuance of that, the process of determining the location is on in places like Durgapur, Asansol, Bankura, Siliguri, and North and South 24 Parganas."
The minister said the sector needs to improve upon its current contribution of 2.60 percent of GDP adding that there was a need for developing skilled workers in the wake of the growing IT industry.
Chatterjee invited the SMEs to join hands with the government in setting up IT hubs. He also said the implementation of e-governance will give a major boost to the industry which was a big generator of employment.
"Emphasis also needs to be given for skill development. We are in process of locating skill development institutions as well as working towards forging a partnership with the National Skill Development Corporation," he said.
He also said the central government has given the opportunity to the state to establish the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) and the process was on to select a suitable location for it.
~IANS