Kolkata/IBNS: West Bengal Information Technology (IT) and Electronics Minister Babul Supriyo said the state government is hopeful of rolling out a slew of policies including that on GCC, semiconductor as well as drone to facilitate the development of IT infrastructure in Bengal.

Supriyo said this while speaking at the 9th edition of Assocham TechMeet and Technology Awards 2024 in Kolkata on Tuesday (Nov. 19).

The minister said the GCC policy is expected to be unveiled before the upcoming Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) scheduled to be held on February 5 and 6, 2025.

While the draft semiconductor policy is already in place, the government is making “necessary changes” to make it more “updated” and “attuned” to industry requirements, he said.

“The GCC policy is in the final stages and it is likely to come into effect before BGBS next year. The draft semi-conductor policy is already in place and we are making necessary changes to make it up to date," Supriyo added. "We have everything in place to put West Bengal on the IT roadmap. We believe we are in the right place at the right time."

The minister said while the central government has a drone policy in place, the state government is also looking to put in place necessary framework to facilitate drone manufacturing and R&D in the state.

Describing the state government’s recent meeting with the chief officials of GlobalFoundries - world’s third largest semiconductor chips maker and TagoreTech, as “invigorating and fruitful”, Supriyo said, they have identified a space for setting up their R&D centre.

Manjit Nayak, the director of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, said that West Bengal has huge potential and the autonomous society will look to collaborate with the state government to set up a Centre of Excellence to promote R&D in the field of drones.

“India should focus on R&D in drones to scale up manufacturing. Innovation is the key. STPI has set up centres of excellence across the country to facilitate R&D,” Nayak said.

West Bengal Information Technology and Electronics department's additional chief secretary, Rajeev Kumar, said, “Drones give mobility, security from law and enforcement point of view."

"We need to have products that have a mass appeal to get the scale required and if you can solve problems and solve them on a scale then success is guaranteed,” he added.