Infosys is coming to Bengal and Buddha can’t stop smiling

The CM said that State IT Minister Manab Mukherjee had visited the Infosys headquarters in Bangalore recently and had secured a ‘‘commitment’’—an Infosys team will be in Kolkata soon to check out the infrastructure.

Infosys is not the only big name coming to Kolkata, said the CM. ‘‘Y C Deveshwar (ITC chairman) has told me that ITC Infotech will be coming to Kolkata, said the CM. ‘‘Y C Deveshwar (ITC chairman) has told me that ITC Infotech will be coming to Kolkata,’’ said Bhattacharjee.

So are Satyam, Reliance Info and GE Capital, he added. Satyam has decided to set up its next office in Kolkata since most of its professionals are from this city, while HSBC, the British banking major, will set up a business process outsourcing (BPO) facility here, Bhattacharjee said.

The State, on its part, hopes to tackle the problem of space with the Housing Department having handed over 150 acres at the new township in Rajarhat to the IT Department, the CM added.

He said Wipro chief Azim Premji had initially taken 18 acres, and ‘‘now wants another 40 acres.’’

But the CM’s announcement was tempered by two reports that were unveiled—both suggesting a shortage a manpower to push the IT sector.

According to a report prepared jointly by global consultancy firm McKinsey and India’s IT forum Nasscom, the state faces a serious shortage of ‘‘bodies’’ to feed the growth projected by the government. By 2008, the report says the industry will require around 38,000 engineering graduates. And, despite the burgeoning growth in engineering and technical colleges, the shortfall will be around 16,000, it adds.

The government study projects a shortfall of 30,000 commerce graduates by 2009 to service the IT industry. The day’s meet also revealed the lack of coordination between the education sector and the industry, with Prof Anup Kumar Roy of IIT Kharagpur summing it up best: ‘‘Sustained attempts by IIT have failed to rope in captains of industry to teach for even three months, let alone a year.’’ The only other discordant voice was struck by Ganesh Natarajan, deputy chairman and managing director, Zensar Technologies Ltd, who stressed that the paradigm shift should be in the direction of creating a ‘‘blended learning model.’’