Mamata wants N R Narayana Murthy to be WB chief mentor

The West Bengal government has approached Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy to become the chief mentor of its expert committee on IT.

Murthy,who had come to Kolkata at least twice last year,had expressed his willingness to work closely with the state government.

Days after being sworn in,the Mamata Banerjee-led government announced setting up of two advisory committees for hardware and software development in the state.

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While Murthy is yet to respond to the state government request,IT and telecom expert Sam Pitroda has been nominated as the chairman of the two committees. Pitroda had also attended Mamata’s swearing-in ceremony.

Murthy’s Infosys had received 50 acres from the Left government last year to set up a campus in Kolkata. But it is yet to start construction there.

According to state IT department sources,software exports of almost 220 companies in West Bengal stood at Rs 7,000 crore in 2010-11. Last year,the state’s IT sector maintained a growth of around 8%.

While four years back,the IT industry in West Bengal was spread over only 181 acres in the city,the area currently totals to 482 acres,covering localities like Rajarhat,Bantala and Nonadanga. Apart from that,it is developing new areas in places like Durgapur and Siliguri.

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The IT sector in West Bengal created more than 20,000 new jobs in the state in 2010 and 15,000 in 2009. More than a lakh professionals currently work in the IT and ITeS sector in West Bengal.