Mumabi: The West Bengal government will partner information technology majors Wipro and Infosys Technologies to set up two special zones for information technology in the state.

Under the scaled-down SEZ model, the state will allocate 90 acres of subsidised land each to Wipro and Infosys near Rajarhat locality in Kolkota.
 
The government will acquire land through a public-private partnership, develop road, water, sewerage and power infrastructure on the plot free of cost and take a part of the developed facility free of cost against infrastructure development, for distribution to identified entities.

While Wipro already has an SEZ at Salt Lake Sector V in the city, the state government also ended years of speculation about the entry of Infosys in the state.

The two facilities will get the status of a special economic zone (SEZ).
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Wipro had sought around 50 acres near its existing facility at Salt Lake Sector V. The state government had offered land to Wipro at around Rs1.50 crore per acre at Rajarhat against the company's offer of Rs60-65 lakh per acre.

''Over the next three-four years, we will invest Rs500 crore in the facility. Instead of asking for land from the government every two-three years, they have given us it in a chunk,'' said Tamal Dasgupta, senior vice-president, Wipro. 

The twin plots are part of 600 acres of land the government will get ''free of cost'' from the promoters of Webel Akask IT Link company, a 50:50 joint venture between Webel and Akash Nirman Private Ltd, which, in turn, is a joint venture between two city-based real estate developers -- Diamond Group and Vedic Realty.

Webel Akash IT Link Co was also planning to develop an IT city in the area, with an estimated project cost of Rs25,000 crore over the next five-seven years, reports said.

A total of 1,200 acres would be acquired for the proposed IT city. The construction work for the project, subject to environment and SEZ clearances, was expected to begin by the year-end.

As part of its plans to recruit about 25,000 people this year, Infosys has offered jobs to about 900 students in the state. Till now, it has offered jobs to a total 18,000 students through campus recruitment across India.

Both Wipro and Infosys will hold land under special exemptions from the Urban Land Ceiling Act as a corporate entity cannot hold land beyond 24.42 acres for private use under the Act.