The minister added that the letter would also state the sops the Bengal government can provide to the company. This move might bring in bad news for the state as recent media reports have quoted Infosys as saying that it may stall the project in the state if it does not get SEZ status.
"We will give a reply to the Infosys within this week stating clearly that we (government) are in principle against SEZ in the state. But we will request the Centre to provide Infosys with some of the facilities of SEZ and the state will also try to partially match the concessions Infosys would have got in SEZ," the minister said.
Some of the benefits the state government can provide are: like Value-added tax ( VAT) relief, soft loans, sops in power tariff and being a sovereign guarantor to the company in any kind of loan it takes. "In case of Tata Motors, the previous government had offered various sops. We might look for some sops to retain Infosys," Chatterjee said. he added. Chatterjee The minister indicated that it would also request the Centre for tax sops like exemption of service tax, central excise exemption and corporate income tax exemption.
Infosys purchased 50 acres of land for the project in Rajarhat, in the northeastern fringes of the city, for Rs 1.5 crore per acre for the project. The company also made the payment in full in October last year. It has made full payment for the land in October last year.
Recently, it had written a letter to Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) seeking clarification on its SEZ status in the state.
In a recent communication to TOI, Infosys Technologies spokesperson said: "We are yet to get any official communication on this from West Bengal government. Without seeing the fineprint we will not be able to comment. However, we are very optimistic about the project in the state."
So far, there are four IT SEZs in the state - Wipro, Unitech, DLF and Bantala IT SEZ.
Regarding the granting of SEZ status to Wipro's second campus in the city, Chatterjee said: "It is yet to pay the entire amount of its land price. We will discuss about its SEZ status after it pays the entire amount."
Wipro has bought 50 acres plot for Rs 75 crore from Hidco in Rajarhat Action Area III. in the northeastern fringes of the city.
It paid the first tranche of money, Rs 18.90 crore, which is 25% of the total amount, to Hidco on January 1, 2010.
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