Although no decision has been formally taken on the site of the institute, the higher echelons in the State administration have arrived at a consensus that the A.P.C. Roy Polytechnic building at Jadavpur should house the information technology institute. In that case, once the Institute session is on, the polytechnic can be shifted to some other location in the city. Information technology giants such as the IBM, Microsoft, Apple, Compaq, have all evinced interest in participating in the project. A spokesman of the State Government has said that the task of shortlisting the companies to be associated in this venture, has already started.

In this context it has to be said that for industrial development the State government has laid genuine emphasis on information technology upgradation. This is particularly so after specialized bodies such as Price Waterhouse or Arthur D Little mentioned in their survey reports about the high potential of information technology in the State. It has to be remembered in this connection that one of the six task forces the State Government has set up with the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) has to deal exclusively with information technology. The Chief Secretary, Mr. Manish Gupta is also its Chairman. Already several large companies have come forward to invest in information technology sphere. These companies have either announced their proposals or have made their initial moves in the matter. The joint venture with the State government will set up a software Park to be known as a 'millenium city'. It has made substantial progress. Price Waterhouse, Coopers, Compaq, Computer Maintenance Corporation (CMC), Tata Consultancy Services, Oracle, Iris, NIIT have already decided to be part of the software park. The Rs. 60 crore (Rs. 600 million) park is scheduled to be commissioned in a year.

The project will offer direct employment to 1, 000 information technology professionals. The indirect employment potential of it is around three times. Keeping in view the big potential of employment in the sphere of information technology, the State Government has taken the initiative in setting up the institute. Led by Minister Bangshagopal Chowdhury, a high-powered team visited Hyderabad three months ago, as Hyderabad happens to be in the forefront of information technology in the country. After the tour, the State government expedited moves for setting up the institute. The State Chief Secretary, Mr. Gupta, held a round of talks with the experts of the public sector Educational Consultants (India) Limited. The State administration on 22nd May in a city hotel held a meeting with the chief executives of 15 big Information technology companies. Preliminary rounds of parleys are almost over by now and the government will finalize the companies it will associate with, in the next two to three weeks' time. A clearer picture about the institute will emerge then. The two or three companies, which will be part of the joint venture with the State government, will also be known by then.

The State Government will make available the building and campus of A.P.C Roy polytechnic for housing the information technology institute. The participating companies will provide equipment and expertise.

The investment in the institute in the final stages will come up to Rs. 150 crores (Rs. 1,500 million.). Degree and diploma courses both will be introduced in the proposed institute. Even though post-graduate courses on information technology have been introduced in Hyderabad, degree and diploma courses will be taught in the West Bengal institute, at least for the time being. Facilities are however, being created for the post-graduate courses to be run later. Facilities for studies of a larger number of pupils than in Hyderabad are being created in the city. In Hyderabad the intake for one course in a session is just 30 pupils, the course curriculum there has not yet been prepared. The course fee too has not been finalized yet.

In the matter of admission to the information technology institute, selection will be made from successful joint entrance examination candidates in West Bengal.