Calcutta, July 18: Several prominent Chinese companies ? mainly information, communication and technology entities ? have pumped in nearly Rs 125 crore for setting up an exclusive centre in Calcutta to showcase their products and services and bag business-to-business orders.
Bengal housing minister Gautam Deb said the centre, to be located in a 75,000-sq-ft, multi-storeyed block in Axis, an upcoming mall at New Town, Rajarhat, would be operational in about one-and-a-half year’s time.
“It is a significant development in that it is the first time that Chinese investment of such size has come into Bengal,” Deb told The Telegraph today.
“Far more important is the fact that the planned centre can morph into a regular trading hub once certain key issues at government and political levels are settled.”
The green signal for the Chinese investment story in Bengal will come tomorrow when Sun Yuxi, Beijing’s ambassador to India, ceremonially launches the centre in Delhi.
Yuxi, who visited Calcutta earlier this year, played the role of a catalyst in drawing the Chinese companies into setting up base in Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s Bengal.
A multi-utility infrastructure project, the Rs 250-crore Axis, spread across five acres, is being constructed by the joint venture Bengal Peerless Housing Development Corporation. Tennis ace Mahesh Bhupathi has taken nearly 60,000 square feet to start a rooftop tennis academy at Axis, which offers nearly 500,000 square feet in three blocks.
Among the other takers are leading European stores and brands. About 3 km from the airport, Axis will be commissioned around mid-2008.
“They (Chinese companies) are going to use the centre as a base in eastern India where the Indian importer or exporter can instantly do business,” says Kumar Shankar Bagchi, managing director of Bengal Peerless, a major force behind the Chinese centre.
“Till the other day, only one or two companies from Calcutta or, for that matter, other parts of eastern India, could visit China and return with cheap personal computers or mobiles to make a killing in the local market. The Chinese centre will put the local industry in close contact with Chinese exporters and importers.”
According to Bagchi, the Chinese companies have spent nearly Rs 60 crore in acquiring the stretch while Rs 65 to 70 crore will be pumped into preparing the centre.
Among the Chinese companies staking the upcoming centre are telecom giants like ZTE, Huawei, Sunhawa and Jiyansu.
Of them, ZTE and Huawei, known as aggressive players in the global market, are scouting the market in Mumbai for making investments in manufacturing facilities.
