IT major Infosys will invest in West Bengal, said state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjeeafter a cabinet meeting.
The decision comes five years after it bought land in the satellite township in Rajarhat on the city’s eastern fringes. Mr. Chatterjee said that land was given to the IT firm on a 99-year renewable lease and earlier, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that Infosys would invest ₹100 crore to set up a facility in the State.
Mr. Chatterjee said that 1,000 people are set to be employed at the Infosys unit. The company has paid ₹75 crore for the plot.
The move comes after the company put its Bengal project on hold, despite possessing land, for want of a “special economic zone” status, which was against the stated policy of Ms. Banerjee’s All India Trinamool Congress which was also listed in the party’s poll manifesto when it came to power in 2011 in the state.
Mr. Chatterjee said that the Cabinet has okayed a proposal to change the leasehold structure to give free-hold status for 51% of the land, with the balance remaining on lease.
Meanwhile, Infosys has been inducted into the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices and is now part of the DJSI World and DJSI Emerging Markets Indices, the firm said in a statement.