India’s West Bengal plans $3.3Bn AI, data center tech hub push
BENGALURU, INDIA — West Bengal is positioning itself as an emerging global technology hub, with the state government targeting about Rs 30,000 crore (US$3.3 billion) in investments through its flagship Silicon Valley project as it sharpens its focus on artificial intelligence (AI), data centers, and global capability centers.
According to a report from YourStory, the 250-acre Silicon Valley project, located on the outskirts of Kolkata, is expected to draw investment and generate at least 7,500 jobs, reflecting India’s growing role in the global digital economy. Officials say the initiative is already gaining traction, with dozens of companies moving forward with construction.
Silicon Valley park targets 7,500 tech jobs, 41 firms
Addressing an ASSOCHAM–STPI event in Kolkata, IT Secretary Shubhanjan Das said the project is progressing rapidly and has already crossed key milestones.
“The project is progressing at a fantastic pace,” Das said, adding that 41 companies have been allotted land and development work is underway.
West Bengal has gradually widened its technology presence during the last ten years. At present, there are 32 state-operated IT parks and over 60 private IT parks in the state, making a total of more than 2,800 companies engaged in IT and IT-enabled services.
These firms employ more than 200,000 people, officials said, providing the state with a deep pool of technical talent.
Das thereby remarked that West Bengal has now moved to the sixth position in India concerning data center capacity, with a total of 11 private data centers already functioning.
A key asset is the state-run Siliguri data center, which houses advanced computing infrastructure, including “40 H100 Nvidia GPU chips and around 40 L100 chips,” he said.
The government is finalizing a proposal that would allow private companies to access this infrastructure for AI training and model development.
IT exports, GCCs fuel West Bengal’s global tech ambitions
The technology push is also reflected in export growth. The software exports from West Bengal of Rs 8,000 crore (US$880 million) around 15 years back have now gone to a point of over Rs 40,000 crore (US$4.4 billion) today.
Das has labeled this increase as tremendous and underlined the increasing importance of the state in the global IT market.
Industry leaders see further upside, particularly in global capability centers (GCCs) that serve multinational firms.
Sushil Mohta, chairman of World Trade Center Salt Lake, said West Bengal is emerging as a strong GCC destination due to its academic institutions, talent pool, and improving infrastructure.
“We need to market ourselves better, particularly in Europe,” Mohta said.
At the event, STPI Kolkata honored leading software exporters, with Tata Consultancy Services receiving the IT Ratna award for the highest software exports from the state.
TCS employs between 54,000 and 55,000 people in West Bengal.
For the global outsourcing industry, West Bengal’s AI- and data center-driven plan signals a shift from conventional back-office operations to more sophisticated, high-value, compute-intensive jobs.
The state’s investments have the potential to establish India as a leading hub for next-generation outsourcing and digital transformation, as companies aim to diversify their delivery locations and scale up AI technologies.
