FINANCIAL HUB - RAJARHAT
Rana Bose
Bengal plans financial hub at Rajarhat
Our BureauThe West Bengal government plans to set up a financial hub at Rajarhat on the outskirts of the city to develop the State as an economic destination. The project will be implemented through the Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO), said Mr Debashis Sen, chairman, HIDCO.
The first phase of the project, to be set up on 25 acres, will entail an investment of about Rs 250 crore. “We will be allotting developed plots to financial institutions, insurance companies and capital market institutions to set up their centres,” Mr Sen said while speaking on the sidelines of a seminar on infrastructure development here on Thursday.
Hidco was in talks with State Bank of India for allotment of a suitable plot for developing the financial hub. Work on the project will commence this financial year, he said.
The financial hub will eye business from the South East Asian countries by using Kolkata as an eastern gateway for trade and financial institutions in the country.
“The area has information technology centres, skilled labourers and dedicated power supply, so financial institutions will be keen to come here,” he said.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/government-and-policy/article2534935.ece
Rana Bose
Mamata nod to New Town financial hub
TNN | Oct 14, 2011, 07.20AM IST"The Mamata Banerjee government has decided to set up a financial centre in Rajarhat . This will be the second financial hub in the country after Bandra-Kurla in Mumbai," urban development minister Firhad Hakim said on Thursday, on the sidelines of a seminar on infrastructure development organized by the British Deputy High Commission in Kolkata.
Hakim refused to speak on the former Left Front's government's proposal and insisted that their was an "original project" initiated by the Mamata administration. However , sources said that it was the same project being carried forward.
While the Left Front government had identified 300 acres in the central business district of New Town Action Area II, department principal secretary Debasis Sen said 25 acres would be developed in the first phase and handed over to banks, financial institutions, insurance companies and portfolio management firms before embarking on Phase-II.
"The infrastructure will be development by the government and executed by Hidco. The financial hub will enjoy dedicated power supply and bandwidth. We want to ensure that it is both economically sensible and ecologically sensitive . Discussions have taken place with the Brooklyn National Laboratory and Bureau of Energy Efficiency on how to extend the green building concept to embrace an entire region," Sen said.
Michael Bear, the Lord Mayor of London and the ambassador of UK-based financial and services industry, said British companies would help West Bengal build capacity so that it could emerge as a financial hub.
Hidco and the urban development department is approaching the five banking institutions - SBI, UCO Bank, United Bank, UTI Mutual Fund and Industrial Financial Corporation of India (IFCI) - that had expressed willingness to set up base in Kolkata before the elections in April stalled the process. An SBI team visited the site a few days ago.
"We expect the centre to have the headquarters of several national and international banks and financial institutions, stock exchanges and insurance companies along with integrated IT, hospitality and educational complexes. There will be houses for the staff of the institutions that have offices in the hub," he said.
Hidco officials estimate that the hub will create more than 200,000 jobs when fully functional . "It will be the gateway to South-East Asia and the rest of India for businesses in South East Asia," the bureaucrat said.