Nandigram and Singur notwithstanding, there is no denying Kolkata’s rising graph on the radar screen of IT multinationals. Reports like city MBAs ranking way above their southern clan, and more than those originating from Delhi (or is it the now-fashionable NCR), with regard to employability (see TT news) add muscle to the belief that Kolkata indeed has lot of talents available in the city. [Interested readers may like to read summaries of other reports – or even buy them – by MeritTrac, the Bangalore-based India’s ‘largest skills assessment company’.]
US-based Jones Lang LaSalle, arguably world’s largest integrated real estate and investment management firm and one of the Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” in 2007, armed with mandate to look for 600,000 sq ft of space mainly for foreign companies, has for the first time set up shop in Kolkata.
JLL – the company is identified with this symbol on NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) – recognizes that some well-known banking and IT MNCs are eager to come to Kolkata in addition to around 40% of the overseas venture capital and hedge funds operating in India now planning to invest in Kolkata properties, as confirmed by Vincent Lottefier, country head of Jones Lang LaSalle India (see this report in The Financial Express).
Lottefier has more accolades for the city, such as its being a part of the firm’s list of “emerging city winners” and that the IT sector here growing at an impressive 70%, which is twice the national figure.
There is more to Kolkata story this week. As part of the BBC’s special series of programs from India, India Rising, its Digital Planet team may have just made their rounds in the city. As Kingsley Dennis, a Lancaster University (UK) educationist reports in his blog, Kolkata “…is marketing itself as the next big destination for IT growth, but it seems an unlikely rival to Bangalore..”, what with “…frequent strikes and public protests, and with every stereotype of Indian poverty evident on its streets..”.
To be true, Kingsley may not be much off the mark, but so is not JLL’s Lottefier in his assessment. Meanwhile, as the Digital Planet team also scours the city for “..an insight into Kolkata’s blogging scene”, I only hope this blog too gets a mention there.
Technorati Tags: jones lang lasalle, jll, bbc, digital planet, india rising, india, kolkata, calcutta
This post pumps up my pride as a Kolkatan. And gives me renewed vigour to those detractors who think Kolkata’s IT sector has not been doing very good on national scene.