Calcutta, July 24: Wipro wants to expand its operations in Calcutta, but the price of land in the city and its vicinity is coming in the way.

The company wants around 40 acres at “mutually agreed prices”.

Laxman Badiga, the chief information officer of Wipro Technologies, and Tamal Dasgupta, the head of the company’s Calcutta operations, met chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and IT minister Debesh Das today.

“The land formed part of the discussions while the company outlined its expansion plans in the city. Wipro would look at vertical development if the land allocation cannot be finalised,” a source in the IT department said.

Vertical development means adding floors in the absence of adequate land.

Another IT giant, Infosys, had earlier wanted land at Rs 50 lakh to 70 lakh an acre. The company had claimed that several other states were providing land at that rate.

“We had officially reduced the price to Rs 1.81 crore an acre and even offered a further reduction to Rs 1.51 crore. But Wipro has conveyed to us that it would not pay more than Rs 60-70 lakh for an acre,” the IT minister had said earlier.

“The existing rate at Rajarhat is not an option. It is way too high. Now it is upto the government to offer us a rate and not lose out on an opportunity,” said Sudip Banerjee, the president of Enterprise Solutions, a division of Wipro.

Wipro was due to be shown the same location as Infosys — opposite Vedic Village, 10km from the airport — as Rajarhat prices did not suit the company. Over a year has passed, but land acquisition in that area has not been initiated.

Wipro’s Calcutta unit, which is set to complete two years, has the fastest growth rate among its centres in the country and employs over 3,000 people.