Azim Premji at Writers’ on Thursday

Wipro chairman Azim Premji gave Bengal’s beleaguered chief minister something to smile about on Thursday by announcing that the infotech behemoth’s second Calcutta campus will start coming up on the 50-acre plot in Rajarhat “18 months from now”.

The announcement came after Premji met Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and IT minister Debesh Das at Writers’ Buildings to finalise a land deal worth Rs 75 crore, at Rs 1.5 crore per acre.

Although the price is less than what the government had first quoted — Rs 2.16 crore per acre — Wipro’s formal commitment to set up the facility after months of will-it-won’t-it speculation marks a boost for Brand Bengal’s battered image.

“We have settled everything with the government,” Premji said, emerging from the 45-minute meeting.

The Wipro boss declined to reveal the quantum of investment the company intends making or the employment potential of the project.

Minister Das said no memorandum of understanding would be signed with Wipro, which has promised to pay the land price in two instalments. “The first instalment will come this month itself,” he added.

The IT department later issued a release stating that “Wipro’s decision to develop a second campus in Calcutta at the time of downturn proves the state’s potential in the IT space”.

The decks were cleared for Thursday’s development on October 30, when a Wipro team inspected the plot earmarked for the proposed facility in Action Area III of New Town, Rajarhat.

In a statement, Wipro’s chief information officer Laxman K. Badiga said: “We look forward to a continued partnership with the government of West Bengal to help generate employment and add to the state’s initiative towards inclusive growth.”

The land identified for Wipro in Action Area III of New Town Rajarhat is near the Shapoorji Pallonji IT park.

Infosys, meanwhile, has pushed back its Bengal plans.