Economy of Kolkata - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

is the main business, commercial and financial hub of eastern India

East India

East India is a region of India consisting of the states of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Orissa. The states of Orissa and West Bengal share some cultural and linguistic characteristics with Bangladesh and with the state of Assam. Together with Bangladesh, West Bengal formed the...

and the main port of communication for the North-East India

North-East India

Northeast India refers to the easternmost region of India consisting of the contiguous Seven Sister States, Sikkim, and parts of North Bengal...

n states. Kolkata is home to India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

's oldest, and also India

India

's second-largest stock exchange Company (bourse) — The Calcutta Stock Exchange. Kolkata is home to a major port, an international airport and many Nationally and internationally reputed colleges and Institutions aimed at supplying a highly-skilled work force. Kolkata is also home to India and South Asia's First Metro Railway service- Kolkata Metro

Kolkata Metro

The Kolkata Metro or Calcutta Metro is a mass rapid transit system serving the city of Kolkata and the districts of South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas in Indian state of West Bengal. The network consists of one operational line and five lines currently under construction...

.

There are a few of the oldest and front line banks and PSUs in India — such as Uco Bank

UCO Bank

Uco Bank, formerly United Commercial Bank, established in 1943 in Kolkata, is one of the oldest and major commercial bank of India. Ghanshyam Das Birla, an eminent Indian industrialist, during the Quit India movement of 1942, had conceived the idea of organizing a commercial bank with Indian...

, Allahabad Bank

Allahabad Bank

Allahabad Bank , , which began operations in 1865, has its head-quarters in Kolkata. Currently the bank has 2500 branches across the country. The Chairman and Managing Director of the bank is Shri J. P. Dua. The bank has a branch in Hong Kong and a representative office in Shenzen.-19th...

, United Bank of India

United Bank of India

United Bank of India is a state-owned financial services company headquartered in Kolkata, India. Presently the bank has a three-tier organizational setup consisting of its Head office in Kolkata, 31 Regional offices and 1600 branches spread all over India. However, its major presence is in...

and Tea Board of India

Tea Board of India

The Tea Board India is an Indian Government-controlled organization that regulates the Indian trade in tea.It was established by the enactment of the Tea Act in 1953 with its headquarters in Kolkata...

— were founded and is Headquartered in Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

.The oldest operating photographic studio in the World Bourne & Shepherd

Bourne & Shepherd

Bourne & Shepherd established in 1863 , is the oldest photographic studio still in operation, and one of the oldest established photographic businesses in the world...

is also based in the city. The Standard Chartered Bank

Standard Chartered Bank

Standard Chartered PLC is a multinational financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom with operations in more than seventy countries...

has a major branch in Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

Informal Economic Sector

Most of the slum dwellers participate in the informal economy

Informal economy

The informal sector or informal economy as defined by governments, scholars, banks, etc. is the part of an economy that is not taxed, monitored by any form of government, or included in any gross national product , unlike the formal economy....

and work in laundering, housecleaning, sweeping, plastic salvaging, plumbing, furniture making, electrical wiring, TV repair, masonry, messaging, hawking, rickshaw pulling, hair design, folk medicine, music and art, tailoring, leather work, shoe making, and food selling.Until recently, flexible production had always been the norm in Kolkata, and the informal sector has comprised more than forty percent of the labor force. For example, hawkers in Kolkata

Hawkers in Kolkata

Hawkers in Kolkata numbering 275,000 generated business worth 8,772 crore in 2005. In Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, in the Indian state of West Bengal, almost 80 per cent of the pavements are encroached by hawkers and illegal settlers.In many countries, hawkers use pavements or other...

, numbering 275,000 generated business worth Rs. 8,772 crore

Crore

A crore is a unit in the Indian number system equal to ten million , or 100 lakhs. It is widely used in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan....

(around 2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2005.

Economic History and Recent Developments

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

was the most developed and the most industrialized City in India till the late Seventies. However, Kolkata witnessed an economic decline from the eighties till the early nineties. The partition

Partition of India

The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...

was a major blow to the once flourishing economy during the world wars, it removed most of the hinterland

Hinterland

The hinterland is the land or district behind a coast or the shoreline of a river. Specifically, by the doctrine of the hinterland, the word is applied to the inland region lying behind a port, claimed by the state that owns the coast. The area from which products are delivered to a port for...

cutting down the supply of the human resource

Human resources

Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations...

and a took away a huge portion of its market

Market

A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...

. Also the huge inflow of refugee from East Pakistan

East Pakistan

East Pakistan was a provincial state of Pakistan established in 14 August 1947. The provincial state existed until its declaration of independence on 26 March 1971 as the independent nation of Bangladesh. Pakistan recognized the new nation on 16 December 1971. East Pakistan was created from Bengal...

, Bihar

Bihar

Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....

, Jharkhand

Jharkhand

Jharkhand is a state in eastern India. It was carved out of the southern part of Bihar on 15 November 2000. Jharkhand shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Orissa to the south, and West Bengal to the east...

was a major drain to the city's infrastructure which was inadequate for the population boom. In the 70's the city saw a predominance of the trade-union movements which forced the investors to flow out of the state to other newly emerging destinations in India. As the investors lacked trust in the newly formed communist government

Communist government

A communist government can refer to:* The government of a one-party communist state* The communist government of a multi-party state...

the lack of capital destroyed most of its small scale industries like foundry

Foundry

A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and removing the mold material or casting after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals processed are aluminum and cast iron...

s and tool casting.

Since 1991, the city's industrial face have improved immensely, as it has managed to board the all India bandwagon of buzzing economic sectors like IT

Information technology

Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...

, BPO

BPO

BPO can refer to:* Benzoyl Peroxide* Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra* Brisbane Philharmonic Orchestra* Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra* Built-in product obsolescence, another name for Planned obsolescence...

along with a good pace of development matching all India average with the liberalization

Liberalization

In general, liberalization refers to a relaxation of previous government restrictions, usually in areas of social or economic policy. In some contexts this process or concept is often, but not always, referred to as deregulation...

of the Indian economy

Economy of India

The Economy of India is the ninth largest in the world by nominal GDP and the fourth largest by purchasing power parity . The country is a part of the G-20 major economies and the BRICS, in addition to being partners of the ASEAN. India has a per capita GDP of $3,608 as per 2010 figures, making it...

. Several industrial estates like Bantala Taratolla, Rajarhat

Rajarhat

Rajarhat Gopalpur , a neighbourhood of Calcutta, located in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, is a fast-growing planned new city. It is situated near the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport. Many high-profile industrialists of national and international standing are...

, Durgapur, Kalyani, Uluberia

Uluberia

Uluberia is a city and a municipality in Howrah district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority.-Geography:...

, Dankuni, Burnpur

Burnpur

Burnpur is an important industrial city in Asansol sub-division in the state of West Bengal, India . It is located in Bardhaman District, in the heart of the mining-industrial belt in the western periphery of the state....

, Kasba, Howrah, specialized setups like the country's first Toy Park, and a Gem and Jewellery Park are spread throughout the urban agglomeration. The establishment of a new harbour at Haldia

Haldia

Haldia has a typical moderate climate with winter temperatures ranging from a low of around 7 degrees Celsius to a high of 22 degrees Celsius. Winters are chilly and is when the residents hold the Haldia Utsav festival. Summers can be very hot and humid. Usual summer temperatures in May, the...

and industries like Haldia

Haldia

petrochemicals was one of the major come backs of the state of West Bengal

West Bengal

West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...

, which in turn improved business and industry in the state capital. In 2009, Kolkata was ranked the hardest Indian city in which to do business by the World Bank.

A plethora of IT-SEZ and IT parks have come up in the city, attracting Software Corporations and Foreign Direct Investment in Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

. More recent development like a huge leather complex that has come up at Bantolla an export processing zone that has been set up in Falta has set the city's reputation as an industrial hub in right path once again, paving its way for the new beginning in 90's.

A satellite Township development named Kolkata West International City

Kolkata West International City

Kolkata West International City is a satellite township development across with 6,100 bungalows, four highrise residential towers, three IT parks, a club, a 200-bed hospital, two schools and shopping and entertainment zones, in Howrah...

across 400 acres (1.6 km²) is under construction, comprising several IT-parks, Malls, Residential Complexes, Hospitals, entertainment zones. This project is a joint venture between Indonesian based Salim Group

Salim Group

The Salim Group is Indonesia's biggest conglomerate with assets including Indofood Sukses Makmur, the world's largest instant noodle producer, and Bogasari, a large flour-milling operation...

and Universal Success Group in collaboration with Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority

Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority

Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority is the statutory planning and development authority for the Kolkata Metropolitan Area in the state of West Bengal, India. The organisation was previously known as Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority and still retains the previous logo...

.
The project is considered to be one of the largest foreign direct investment

Foreign direct investment

Foreign direct investment or foreign investment refers to the net inflows of investment to acquire a lasting management interest in an enterprise operating in an economy other than that of the investor.. It is the sum of equity capital,other long-term capital, and short-term capital as shown in...

s in township projects in India. Another such Large scale satellite Township is being developed , known as Calcutta Riverside

Calcutta Riverside

Calcutta Riverside is a satellite township development across being developed by Riverbank Developers Pvt. Ltd. in joint venture with Bata India Limited planned on the banks of the Hooghly River in Kolkatain South 24 Parganas district under Maheshtala Municipality.Riverbank Holdings the operating...

,which is a Joint venture between Riverbank Holdings Private Ltd. and Bata India

Bata Shoes

Bata Shoes is a large, family owned shoe company based in Bermuda but currently headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, operating 3 business units worldwide – Bata Metro Markets, Bata Emerging Markets and Bata Branded Business. It has a retail presence in over 50 countries and production...

Ltd. and CMDA

CMDA

CMDA can refer to:* Christian Medical and Dental Associations, a professional medical association* Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, is the nodal planning agency within the Chennai Metropolitan Area...

spreading across 270 acres (1.1 km²).

India's Second Financial Hub in Kolkata

http://m.economictimes.com/news/economy/finance/Indias-second-financial-hub-in-Kolkata/articleshow/6741805.cms

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday (13/10/2010) laid the foundation stone of the country's second financial hub after the
Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai, at Jyoti Basu Nagar in the northeastern fringes of the city. Spread over 300 acres, the financial hub will house several banking and financial institutions, insurance companies and stock exchanges apart from hospitality and educational institutions. It would entail an overall investment of Rs.16,000 crore. "This financial hub will open a new vista for the people of this region of the country," said Mukherjee. The hub would play a catalytic role as a gateway to the Southeast
Asia, he added, relating it to India's "Look East" policy. The hub is expected to generate employment opportunities and business prospects for West Bengal and the eastern region. "This hub would generate employment of two lakh people directly and
three lakh indirectly," said West Bengal Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta.

Within three months of laying the foundation stone of the project, the Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) has decided to hand over plots to five nationalized banking and financial institutions that had submitted applications expressing an interest in setting up offices at the hub. The five banking institutions that will get plots are State Bank of India,UCO Bank, United Bank, UTI Mutual Fund and Industrial Financial Corporation of India (IFCI).http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-01-13/kolkata/28369779_1_financial-hub-hidco-authorities-saurabh-das

Banking and Finance

Kolkata is an important centre for banking and finance

Finance

"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...

. At present it is headquarter of
three large nationalized banks Allahabad Bank

Allahabad Bank

, Uco Bank

UCO Bank

and United Bank of India

United Bank of India

. Several large financial companies and insurance companies are headquartered in Kolkata. Many Indian banks, multi-national banks and the World Bank have located their Branch offices operations in the city. All main banks from India have their branch office here. Also big financial banks like Standard Chartered Bank

Standard Chartered Bank

Standard Chartered PLC is a multinational financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom with operations in more than seventy countries...

, Bank of America

Bank of America

Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...

and HSBC Bank

HSBC Bank

HSBC Bank may refer to any one of the following principal local banks for HSBC Group:- Americas :* HSBC Bank Argentina* HSBC Bank Brazil* HSBC Bank Canada* HSBC Bank Chile* HSBC Bank Costa Rica* HSBC Bank El Salvador* HSBC Bank Honduras...

have office and branches in Kolkata. So Kolkata is a financial capital of East India and also one of the largest financial hubs in India.

GDP and Major Companies based in Kolkata

Kolkata's GDP of USD 94 billion in 2005 exchange rate was the second largest in India among Indian cities. In 2009, Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

's GDP grew to 162 billion USD, 3rd among Indian Cities. With its huge economy

Economy

An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...

and cheap living expenses it is one of the World's major center of business in GDP PPP terms. Many industrial units, of large Indian corporations, whose product range is varied and includes - engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

products, electronics

Electronics

Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...

, electrical equipment, cable

Cable

A cable is two or more wires running side by side and bonded, twisted or braided together to form a single assembly. In mechanics cables, otherwise known as wire ropes, are used for lifting, hauling and towing or conveying force through tension. In electrical engineering cables are used to carry...

s, steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

, leather

Leather

Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...

, textile

Textile

A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...

s, jewellery

Jewellery

Jewellery or jewelry is a form of personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets.With some exceptions, such as medical alert bracelets or military dog tags, jewellery normally differs from other items of personal adornment in that it has no other purpose than to...

, frigate

Frigate

A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

s, automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

s, railway coaches, wagon

Wagon

A wagon is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals; it was formerly often called a wain, and if low and sideless may be called a dray, trolley or float....

s, tea

Tea

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...

, paper

Paper

Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....

, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

, food products, jute

Jute

Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fibre that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from plants in the genus Corchorus, which has been classified in the family Tiliaceae, or more recently in Malvaceae....

products etc. are Headquartered in Kolkata.
Recently the city has been transformed to a major Information Technology

Information technology

hub in India

Some notable companies Headquartered in Kolkata include ITC Limited, Bata India, India Govt. Mint

India Government Mint, Kolkata

The India Government Mint, Kolkata was first established in 1757, and was located in a building next to the Black Hole in the old fort - where the GPO stands today. It was called the Calcutta Mint and used to produce coins with the mint name. Murshidabad-Second Mint:The second Calcutta Mint was...

, Haldia

Haldia

Petrochemicals Ltd., Britannia Industries, Birla Corporation

Birla Corporation

Birla Corporation Limited, popularly known as Birla Corp is an Indian company based in Kolkata. It is the flagship company of the M P Birla group of companies....

, Coal India Limited

Coal India Limited

Coal India Limited is an Indian state-controlled coal company headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal, India and the world's largest coal miner with revenue exceeding 60,245 Crore . It was formerly owned entirely by the Union Government of India, under the administrative control of the Ministry of...

, Development Consultants Group (DC Group), Damodar Valley Corporation

Damodar Valley Corporation

The Damodar Valley Corporation, popularly known as DVC, is the first multipurpose river valley project of independent India. The corporation came into being on July 7, 1948 by an Act of the Constituent Assembly of India . It is modelled on the Tennessee Valley Authority of the USA. Jawaharlal...

, Hindustan Motors

Hindustan Motors

Hindustan Motors is an automobile manufacturer from India. It is part of the Birla Technical Services industrial group. The company was the largest car manufacturer in India before the rise of Maruti Udyog....

, Peerless Group, Usha Martin, Jai Balaji group

Jai Balaji group

Jai Balaji Group is a Primary Steel Plant with Captive Power Generation and plants in nine locations. It also has plans to set up a Mega Steel, Cement and Power Project at Raghunathpur.-The Group:...

, Orient Airways

Orient Airways

Orient Airways Ltd. was an airline established in 1946 with a base in Calcutta, India. It was the first and only Muslim owned airline in pre-partition India.-History:...

, KKN Group, Chirag Computers, Bengal Ambuja, Exide Industries, Berger Paints India Ltd

Berger Paints India Ltd

Berger Paints India Limited is an Indian paint company which operates chiefly in India headquartered in Kolkata, India. It has come a long way since its inception in the year 1923...

, CESC Limited

Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation

The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation or CESC supplies electricity to area under the Kolkata municipal corporation in the city of Kolkata, India, mainly but also few areas of Howrah, Hooghly, 24 Parganas and 24 Parganas districts of West Bengal, India.-History:On 7 January 1897 Kilburn & Co...

, SIMOCO (First Wireless Equipment and Mobile phone manufacturers from East India), Emami

Emami

Emami Limited is an Indian producer of fast moving consumer goods , such as cosmetics and health and baby products. The company is based in Kolkata. Its chief executive officer is Nelabhotla Venkateswarlu Emami Limited is an Indian producer of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), such as cosmetics...

Ltd., Eveready Industries

Eveready Industries

Eveready Industries India, Ltd is the flagship company of the B.M. Khaitan Group. The brand Eveready has been present in India since 1905....

India Ltd.,and National Insurance Company.

Among these three of the Forbes Global 2000

Forbes Global 2000

The Forbes Global 2000 is an annual ranking of the top 2000 public companies in the world by Forbes magazine. The ranking is based on a mix of four metrics: sales, profit, assets and market value...

listed companies are Headquartered in Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

, which includes ITC Limited, Allahabad Bank

Allahabad Bank

and Uco Bank

UCO Bank

Information Technology (IT) Industry Boom

The state of West Bengal has promoted foreign direct investment, which has mostly come in the software and electronics field. Kolkata is a major hub for the IT (Information Technology

Information technology

) industry in India. With construction underway of New Town at Rajarhat

Rajarhat

and extension of Salt Lake's Sector-V, Kolkata is rapidly turning into a preferred IT/BPO

Business process outsourcing

Business process outsourcing is a subset of outsourcing that involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of specific business functions to a third-party service provider. Originally, this was associated with manufacturing firms, such as Coca Cola that outsourced large segments...

destination. More and more businesses are coming to Kolkata to set up their offices, including International Giants such as IBM

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

, Accenture

Accenture

Accenture plc is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company headquartered in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It is the largest consulting firm in the world and is a Fortune Global 500 company. As of September 2011, the company had more than 236,000 employees across...

, Cognizant, Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...

, Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...

, Intel Asia Electronics Inc

Intel Corporation

Intel Corporation is an American multinational semiconductor chip maker corporation headquartered in Santa Clara, California, United States and the world's largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue. It is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most...

, Deloitte, Sun Microsystems

Sun Microsystems

Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...

, Honeywell

Honeywell

Honeywell International, Inc. is a major conglomerate company that produces a variety of consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments....

, PwC

PwC

PricewaterhouseCoopers is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest professional services firm measured by revenues and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms....

, HSBC Global Resourcing

HSBC GLT India

HSBC Global Technology is part of the HSBC, headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Its network are spread across 10,000 offices in 85 countries with a customer base of 125 million....

, Capgemini

Capgemini

Capgemini is a French global IT services company, one of the world's largest management consulting, outsourcing and professional services companies with a staff of 114,274 operating in 40 countries. It is headquartered in Paris and was founded in 1967 by Serge Kampf, the current chairman, in...

, Atos Origin

Atos Origin

Atos S.A. is an international information technology corporation which operates in 42 countries worldwide, with over 78,500 employees...

, Foster Wheeler, Siemens

Siemens

Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...

, Novell

Novell

Novell, Inc. is a multinational software and services company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group. It specializes in network operating systems, such as Novell NetWare; systems management solutions, such as Novell ZENworks; and collaboration solutions, such as Novell Groupwise...

. Leading the way in growth have been the Kolkata based companies such ITC Infotech

Itc Infotech

ITC Infotech is an IT services company headquartered in Bangalore, India.It was set up in 2000 and provides IT services to companies in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, including India...

, RS Software, IKF Technologies, Indusnet Technologies, Metalogic systems, Ushacomm, WDC, Ontrack systems, BNKE Solutions, Web Spiders, Intrasoft Technologies etc.

Kolkata being the One and Only Metropolitan city from East-India have attracted Major Software and Telecom firms across India and Abroad to set up their development centre here. The Eastern Region Council of NASSCOM

NASSCOM

The National Association of Software and Services Companies of IT software and services related activities for use of both the software developers as well as interested companies overseas....

the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the IT-BPO industries in India is situated in Kolkata.

This apart, other big Indian software firms have already made Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

their hub of operations for Eastern region of India. Of these Wipro

Wipro

Wipro Limited formally Western India Products Limited is a global IT services and consulting company headquartered in Bangalore, India. As of 2011, Wipro is the second largest IT services company by turnover in India and employs more than 120,000 people worldwide as of March 2011...

, Infosys

Infosys

Infosys Limited, formerly Infosys Technologies Limited is a global technology services company headquartered in Bangalore, India. It is the second largest IT exporter in India with 133,560 employees as of March 2011. It has offices in 33 countries and development centers in India, China,...

, TCS

Tata Consultancy Services

Tata Consultancy Services Limited is a global IT services, business solutions and outsourcing company headquartered in Mumbai, India. It is the largest provider of information technology in Asia and second largest provider of business process outsourcing services in India...

, Tech Mahindra

Tech Mahindra

Tech Mahindra Limited is a provider of information technology , networking technology solutions and business process outsourcing services to the global telecommunications industry. Headquartered at Pune, India...

, ITC Infotech

Itc Infotech

ITC Infotech is an IT services company headquartered in Bangalore, India.It was set up in 2000 and provides IT services to companies in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, including India...

, HCL Technologies

HCL Technologies

HCL Technologies Limited is a leading global IT services company headquartered in Noida, India. It is primarily engaged in providing a range of software services, business process outsourcing and infrastructure services. HCL Technologies is fourth largest IT company in India and is ranked 48 in...

, MphasiS

MphasiS

MphasiS , a unit of Hewlett-Packard Co., is an information technology services company based in Bangalore, India. MphasiS is certified with ISO 9001:2008, ISO/IEC 27001:2005 and is assessed at CMMI v 1.2 Level 5.It is the sixth largest IT company in India with more than 38,000 employees as of 2010...

, Genpact

Genpact

Genpact Limited is a global business process and technology management company. It was formerly a GE owned company called GE Capital International Services or GECIS. It operates from India, China, Guatemala, Hungary, México, Morocco, the Philippines, Poland, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, South...

, Tata Interactive Systems

Tata Interactive Systems

Tata Interactive Systems is an Indian developer of custom e-learning based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. TIS is represented across the US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, India, Netherlands, mainland Europe, and Japan...

, Ramco Systems

Ramco Systems

Ramco Systems Limited is a software products and services provider incorporated in India. Ramco Systems is a provider of Aviation Maintenance & Engineering and Maintenance Repair & Overhaul Software....

, Firstsource

Firstsource

Firstsource is a provider of Business Process Outsourcing services headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Firstsource provides customized business process management to customers in the Banking & Financial Services, customer services, Telecom & Media and Healthcare sectors...

, CMC Limited

CMC Limited

CMC Limited is an Information Technology services, consulting and software company having its Headquarters in New Delhi, India. CMC is part of the TATA group and is a subsidiary of Tata Consultancy Services. CMC was incorporated on December 26, 1975, as the 'Computer Maintenance Corporation...

, NIIT Technologies, Moser Baer Ltd.

Moser Baer

Moser Baer is the world's 2nd largest optical storage media manufacturer and supplies to the world's top dozen brands. They now make CD-R's for Memorex , TDK , Verbatim Sony and Agfa-Gevaert . They used to make CD-R's for Imation and Staples . The company was founded in New Delhi in 1983...

, Aptech IT

Aptech

Aptech Limited is a global retail and corporate training company with headquarters in Mumbai, India. The company commenced its IT training business in 1986 and has trained over 5 million students....

, Aegis, Aditya Birla Minacs, Rolta India Ltd

Rolta India Ltd

Rolta headquartered in Mumbai, India. Established in 1989, the company provides CAD, CAM, geospatial information system solutions, EBusiness and related services. Rolta employs around 5000 professionals and has a countrywide infrastructure and international subsidiaries across the globe...

are leading the way. Owing to the recent boom in the economy of Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

and also the state as a whole, West Bengal

West Bengal

is now the third fastest growing economy in the country and the city's IT

Information technology

sector is growing at a rate of 70% per year — twice the national average. With the proposed cable landing station

Cable landing point

A cable landing point is the location where a submarine or other underwater cable makes landfall. The term is most often used for the landfall points of submarine telecommunications cables and submarine power cables. The landing will either be direct or via a branch from a main cable using a...

in the coastal West Bengal in the offing, the city is going to offer even better infrastructure for I.T.

Informal Economic Sector

Economic History and Recent Developments

India's Second Financial Hub in Kolkata

Banking and Finance

GDP and Major Companies based in Kolkata

Information Technology (IT) Industry Boom

See also