Calcutta, June 23: GE Capital, HSBC and now ITC Infotech.

The state government’s information technology ambitions got a leg-up with Sanjay Verma, managing director of ITC Infotech, expressing a desire to set up an IT park in the city.

Rolling out the company’s plans for Calcutta in a meeting with information technology minister Manab Mukherjee (picture above) in his Camac Street office, Verma said the company was looking forward to invest around Rs 100 crore in the first phase on the park.

“We have requested the government to give us around 15 to 20 acres to set up our campus,” said Verma, confirming the company’s interest in Calcutta. ITC Infotech is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ITC, the tobacco-to-hotels group.

The Bangalore-based software services and solution provider, which touched a turnover of around Rs 137 crore in the last year, will conduct both IT services and high-end IT- enabled services business from its city facility and serve its global clients.

ITC Infotech, which employs more than 1,500 people across the country, has drawn up plans to take its headcount in the city centre to around 3,000. At present, the company has over 200 people on its rolls here.

“We have had several rounds of discussion with ITC Infotech during the past few months and it’s good news for us that they have finally decided to come in a big way in Calcutta. They want to begin their city operations as soon as possible,” said Mukherjee after his hour-long meeting with Verma.

While the entire project will be implemented in phases, the company has set a timeline with April 2005 as the kick-off point. To help the company meet its time schedule, the government has identified an appropriate piece of land in Rajarhat.