The IT department of West Bengal is in the process of negotiations with some animation companies to set up an animation park in Kolkata.
"We are in talks with some animation companies with the objective of setting up an animation park in the Kolkata", state IT minister Debesh Das told reporters on the sidelines of a roundtable discussion on India-EU trade and investment development programme, organised by Ficci.
"Apart from the plan to set up the animation park, we are trying to rope in some hardware companies to set up manufacturing bases. Moreover, we are expecting some high-end industries to come up in the proposed IT park to be established near IIT-Kharagpur", he added.
The state IT department initiative to set up incubation centres in Kolkata, Siliguri and Durgapur aimed to make West Bengal among the top three Indian IT states in revenue terms by 2010.
Speaking on the occasion, Dietrich Kebschull, chief programme coordinator of EU-India TIDP, said, "Many European countries are willing to invest in West Bengal in sunrise sectors like IT and biotechnology, as also in areas like pharmaceuticals, textiles and jewellery. Some are keen on setting up shop in Kolkata or elsewhere in India in five years."
The EU-India TIDP comprises five key components- sanitary and phytosanitary measures, investment facilitation desks, trade portals, customs and intellectual property rights.
Kebschull admitteed that stringent phytosanitary measures of the EU countries were a deterrent for export of food products from India, adding that the EU-India TIDP is making efforts to ensure that the Indian companies conform to the European phytosanitary regulations.
There are four investment facilitation desks- a national facilitation desk in New Delhi and three other satellite desks in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
