The Hindu : Business : TCS sets sights on Guwahati for expansion

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Saturday, Sep 01, 2007
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TCS sets sights on Guwahati for expansion

Sushanta Talukdar

Six-member team, led by Ramadurai, meets Assam Chief Minister

The delegation surveys two sites
TCS likely to spell out its plans soon

— PHOTO: RITU RAJ KONWAR

LOOKING NORTHEAST: S. Ramadorai (left), CEO and Managing Director, Tata Consultancy Services, shaking hands with Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of State for Commerce, in Guwahati on Friday. Tarun Gogoi (centre), Assam Chief Minister, looks on.

GUWAHATI: A six-member team of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) officials on Friday made an exploratory visit here to assess the city’s potential for a possible expansion by the company. The delegation was led by TCS’s Chief Executive Officer S. Ramadurai.

Briefing reporters, Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh said that during the visit the delegation surveyed two sites — Palashbari, measuring about 140 acres, and a site near the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, measuring about 100 acres.

The Assam Government also made a presentation on the strength and potential of Guwahati as a major IT destination. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, State IT Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma and State Industry and Commerce Minister Pradyut Bordoloi were present.

Mr. Ramesh expressed hope that TCS would announce its Guwahati expansion in the next couple of weeks. He said that in the last six months he had been impressing upon TCS to look beyond Kolkata, that is, Guwahati and Shillong, which, he said, had all the potential to come up as major IT destinations. The Union Minister said the phenomenal IT revolution in the country had bypassed the Northeast and of the $32 billion exports in the IT sector, the share of the Northeast was only half a million dollar.

He said IT companies did not bother about the Northeast as they were more worried about the U.S. and other countries.

Mr. Ramesh said IT companies and other investors had a ‘mindset problem’ towards the security environment of the Northeast. He said the region was much safer than many parts of the country. “We are fighting against this mindset,” he added. The “mindset problem” also existed with Delhi and he admitted that the Central Government had failed to provide adequate infrastructure support to the Northeast.

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