Calcutta, Oct.28: Bengal’s new information technology (IT) policy is likely to be finalised by December. The present policy was framed in 2003.

“It is possible that the IT policy will be finalised by December,” said Bengal IT minister Partha Chatterjee.

The state government under chief minister Mamata Banerjee has been focussing on wooing investments back into the state. Infotech has been identified as one of the key areas of focus.

Chatterjee had earlier said the new policy was aimed at making the state a top destination for IT and extending technology to smaller towns.

The government has also set up a core committee to prepare the new policy, which has Infosys chairman emeritus N.R. Narayana Murthy as its chief mentor and Sam Pitroda as the chairman.

The committee held its first meeting on September 17. Eight working groups were set up to cover areas such as e-governance, e-health, e-education, infrastructure and human resources. These working groups will provide inputs to the new policy.

Former Nasscom president Kiran Karnik, Nasscom eastern region head Suparno Moitra and The Chatterjee Group president Aniruddha Lahiri are among the members of the committee.