IT companies wary of investing in Modi's Gujarat: Infocity developer

Gandhinagar, Oct 6 (UNI) In what could be a blow to Chief Minister Narendra Modi's dream IT project, the developer of Infocity, Gandhinagar today said not many IT companies are keen on investing in Gujarat as the state's image abroad has taken a beating after the communal riots of 2002.

Mr Dilip Barot, the CEO of Creative IT INC (USA), said he too may be forced to pull out of the project if the government did not help in creating a conducive environment for investment.

Creative choice group is developing he Infocity.

He said he may have to shift to Pune or Thane, if the project failed to take off. ''It is not wise to put all eggs in one basket.

We have already acquired 100 acres land near Thane and may set up another Infocity there,'' he said.

''Gujarat has not been able to shake off its 'communal riots tag' and there are many companies that are wary of investing in the state for this reason,'' he said.

Citing an example, he said Mellon bank, based in Pittsburg, USA had finalised all plans to set up an outsourcing centre in Gandhinagar, but its risk analysis team put a stop to it. Another bioinformatics company Paraxel too pulled out, citing risk perception as the reason, he added.

Mr Anupam Saxena, Director of the Infocity project, said, ''Initially, the situation was bad. We may have spoken to 2000-odd companies initially, but never made any headway. Now ten out of every 100 companies at least respond.'' Talking about other factors that have played deterrent, he said 40 per cent of the decisions against Gandhinagar could be because of HR quotient. ''Lack of social infrastructure, prohibtion laws, lack of technical education or training institutes, etc could be other factors that have forced companies to look towards Bangalore, Hyderabad or Pune,'' he said.

At present there are 45 companies operating from Infocity here.

Mr Barot said it was not feasible for any company to sell 'Gujarat' as an IT destination and the government should put in efforts in this regard.

''Training programmes are being organised by us. The government should be pitching in this,'' he said.

He also said labour laws and shops and establishement norms should be simplified.

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