IT major Wipro on Monday said it will double its capacity at the existing facility at Salt Lake,but will not go ahead with its plan of investing in its second proposed facility at Rajarhat. Around 6,500 people work at its Salt Lake campus. As of now we are investing only in our existing capacity, Wipro chairman Azim Premji said in Kolkata,clearly signalling that the IT giant was not keen on expanding its proposed second campus at Rajarhat. We are growing in our existing capacity. We will double the work force at the existing facility, he said after he held a closed-door meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industries in the city. For the expansion at the 14.5 acre Salt Lake campus,Premji said the facility will go vertical to create space for new recruits. The company was supposed to invest Rs 700 crore in its second campus for which it was allotted 50 acres in Rajarhat by the state government. The project was estimated to generate 15,000 jobs. Last December,after Premji met Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata,state Finance Minister Amit Mitra claimed that Premji promised to invest in Rajarhat. The reluctance of the Wipro to go ahead with the project could be due to its demand of the status of Special Economic Zone (SEZ) something which the state government is opposed to as in the case of Infosys. Wipros first facility was accorded the SEZ status,and it wanted the same for its Rajarhat facility.
