Kolkata: The state govt has prepared a draft Global Capability Centre policy, backed by a Rs 5,000 crore investment promotion framework, to offer incentives and operational subsidies for technology, engineering and legal operations — Bengal’s first such dedicated policy for the sector.The state IT and electronics department plans to invite suggestions from industry bodies including Assocham, Ficci and Nasscom before finalising the policy, minister Kalyan Chakraborti told TOI.“The IT ecosystem can be changed and enriched on a par with other states leading this segment in the country through industrial incentives as announced by our govt. Bengal does not have any existing GCC policy. We have prepared a draft and will invite industry bodies to share their suggestions so that it can be modified,” he said.The department will also seek industry inputs to upgrade the state’s existing IT policy of 2018 and data centre policy of 2021. Chakraborti said the GCC policy would need to incorporate the views of the industries and finance departments as well, with the industries department acting as the nodal body for drafting changes to industrial incentives.Finance minister Swapan Dasgupta had signalled the policy’s ambition in the budget, saying the GCC framework would have a “strategic vision to encourage shift from traditional cost-based outsourcing to attracting high value functions” through the state’s skilled workforce.
