ITC Chairman calls on Mamata Banerjee, reaffirms commitment to invest in Bengal

ITC Chairman YC Deveshwar called on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday and "reaffirmed" the group's commitment to invest Rs 3,000 crore in the state in the next three to five years.

"It was a courtesy meet with the chief minister. We took the opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to invest Rs 3,000 crore in the state in the next couple of years," an ITC spokesperson said.

"The investments will be in consumer goods manufacturing, hotels, expansion of existing projects and IT," he added. According to the spokesperson, the issue of ITC Infotech was also discussed, among other things, in the meeting.

In the half-hour meeting at the state secretariat, Banerjee "assured" the cigarette-to-hotel conglomerate's chairman that she would "look into the matter" of ITC Infotech's Bengal project, which has been put on hold for several years.



ITC Infotech, a fully owned IT subsidiary of the diversified conglomerate, has been waiting for years to set up its campus in Kolkata but is facing land troubles.

According to informed sources, the firm is still awaiting a green signal from the Banerjee government to clear the proposal to allot 15 acres of land in the satellite township of Rajarhat, on the north-eastern fringes of the city.

The company had approached the then Left Front government in 2005 to get around 15 acres for setting up its facilities. The state government had even earmarked 5 acres in Rajarhat.

However, days after the allotment, the then government had backtracked and cancelled its decision to hand over the plot.

"They discussed various matters, including the subject... The chief minister assured us that she would look into the matter," the official said to queries whether the issue of ITC Infotech's Kolkata campus was discussed in the meeting.

With inputs from IANS