Bengal IT minister Babul Supriyo has said project execution at the Bengal Silicon Valley Hub is gaining traction, with a majority of allottees moving from intent to implementation.

The 200-acre cluster, dedicated to IT and data centre investments in New Town, has seen 31 of 41 companies that have taken land begin construction. Three firms have already commenced operations and seven are close to completion.

“Of the 41 companies that have taken land, 31 have started construction, three are already functional, and seven are on the verge of completion,” Supriyo said on Wednesday. Operational units include data centres set up by NTT, CtrlS and ST Telemedia. Large names such as TCS, Reliance and Airtel Nxtra have also secured plots in the hub.

In June last year, chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced that the New Town Kolkata Development Authority had cleared the first phase of TCS’s proposed campus at the hub, spread over 20 acres and expected to generate employment for 5,000 IT professionals.

Reviewing progress on Thursday, the IT minister visited the under-construction LTI Mindtree campus at the hub. The ₹2,000-crore project spans 18.92 acres and envisages a large-scale IT campus with six towers to be executed in phases. The overall built-up area of the campus is estimated at about 3.7 lakh square feet.

Phase I comprises two towers. “Based on the current pace of construction and visible on-site progress, we expect this phase to be completed by April–May 2026. Upon completion, the first two towers are projected to accommodate nearly 7,000 IT professionals,” Supriyo said. Once fully developed, the entire campus is expected to house around 25,000 IT professionals. He added that the government would provide support according to the requirements of the company for infrastructure development.

Beyond the Bengal Silicon Valley Hub, the government has set up 22 IT parks across the state, where overall occupancy stands at about 70 per cent. "The parks in Siliguri and Calcutta are fully occupied," the minister said, adding that private IT parks in the state are also filling up rapidly.

Supriyo said the expanding infrastructure base can address concerns of “brain drain”. With large campuses and data centre investments coming up locally, he argued, IT professionals from Bengal would have fewer incentives to migrate to Bengaluru, Gurgaon or Hyderabad, where a substantial share of salaries is spent on rent. “They can stay here and work,” he said.

The state expects the hub to catalyse ancillary services, boost real estate development in New Town, and strengthen Bengal’s position as an emerging technology investment destination in the East.