A few days back I read in the paper that Infosys pulled out of its 100 acre campus in Kolkata. Infy wanted 100 acres to build a campus employing 5000 people in it. The West Bengal government was unable to acquire the land and finally offered land to Infy near Vedic Village. The land owning body (part of the government) asked Infy for 2 crores (approx) per acre which was too high for Infy because they pay an average 15L an acre. The irony is that private promoters were ready to pay 10 crore per acre. So why did the government at all offer 2 crore, making a 80% loss. Well there is lot to it than just the money. Infy is the biggest brand name in IT in India and to have a Infosys campus in West Bengal will add a lot of brand value to Brand Bengal. Other companies will be attracted to Bengal to set up operations and this will provide employment to thousands directly and indirectly.
When I was discussing this with a friend of mine, he said its good that the Bengal government did not to agree to 15L price, as Infosys was trying to extract much more just because of its brand value. He also found that 100 acres employing 5000 people was a waste of space, although he agreed that Infy campuses are lavish with swimming pool, gym and what not. Well its one way for Infy to attract "bright" engineers. Most of the entry level engineers hired by Infy get attracted to the brand name and the facilities it provides. I found nothing wrong in that. Every company has a strategy. Also indirectly the Infy facility would be providing employment to many others. For example, there would be people employed indirectly for maintaining the campus, the security, the catering facility, the sports facility, the transport facility. Then these 5000 well paid employees will splurge their salary in shopping malls and multiplexes. So the campus would have done a lot of good to Bengal.
But now that was one side. What about the private developers, developing the same land and building housing complex, office space, shopping centers. This would have also generated a lot of employment. But still it would miss the Infy brand name. Thankfully Buddhadeb babu understands this. He has now offered Infy 100 acres (read to occupy immediately) at 15L per acre at Kalyani about 60 kms from Calcutta. This is a good move. Since the land is ready to occupy, Infy could kick off its campus building almost immediately. Secondly government gets a good deal because a town near Calcutta will get developed and other IT companies may follow suit. Lets see how it goes. Infy hasn't yet accepted the offer. I am keeping my fingers crossed.
News about Infy pulling out in Times of India
News about Buddhadeb Babu again offering land to Infy in Economic Times
When I was discussing this with a friend of mine, he said its good that the Bengal government did not to agree to 15L price, as Infosys was trying to extract much more just because of its brand value. He also found that 100 acres employing 5000 people was a waste of space, although he agreed that Infy campuses are lavish with swimming pool, gym and what not. Well its one way for Infy to attract "bright" engineers. Most of the entry level engineers hired by Infy get attracted to the brand name and the facilities it provides. I found nothing wrong in that. Every company has a strategy. Also indirectly the Infy facility would be providing employment to many others. For example, there would be people employed indirectly for maintaining the campus, the security, the catering facility, the sports facility, the transport facility. Then these 5000 well paid employees will splurge their salary in shopping malls and multiplexes. So the campus would have done a lot of good to Bengal.
But now that was one side. What about the private developers, developing the same land and building housing complex, office space, shopping centers. This would have also generated a lot of employment. But still it would miss the Infy brand name. Thankfully Buddhadeb babu understands this. He has now offered Infy 100 acres (read to occupy immediately) at 15L per acre at Kalyani about 60 kms from Calcutta. This is a good move. Since the land is ready to occupy, Infy could kick off its campus building almost immediately. Secondly government gets a good deal because a town near Calcutta will get developed and other IT companies may follow suit. Lets see how it goes. Infy hasn't yet accepted the offer. I am keeping my fingers crossed.
News about Infy pulling out in Times of India
News about Buddhadeb Babu again offering land to Infy in Economic Times
1 comment:
Haha. You never mentioned about this blog where you have hinted at our conversation. I still believe Infy wastes a lot of land and am saying this as an Infy employee who fully utilizes all its facilities. Maybe you can mention in the blog that the friend whom u had a discussion with is an Infy employee himself. We have a huge cricket ground inside where we are not allowed to play as the grass will get spoilt. They say that once the work on the grass and pitch is done we maybe allowed to play. But i feel its a waste. And i dont think an empty green cricket ground will attract SEs. They are just there to show the clients what a lavish facility and infrastructure we have. But do clients really get impressed by all this? If so, small companies whud have never existed. But Infy still loses projects to nucleus and temenos. So what are these useless pieces of land doing?
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