West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation (WEBEL), which serves as the nodal agency of the West Bengal government for promoting IT and electronics industries, is reportedly considering setting up a new data center in Siliguri. The new data center will offer high performance computing power to help small enterprises and start-ups.
According to a report published in The Telegraph India, this will be WEBEL’s third data center. However, there is no official word so far as to the proposed capacity of this new data center, as the scope and specifications of the project are reportedly yet to be finalised.
Siliguri is a town located in the foothills of the Himalayas, 585 kilometers (363 miles) north of Kolkata, and already has an IT park. WEBEL’s other data centers located in the state capital of Kolkata, and in Purulia.
Over the last few years, Kolkata has been slowly but steadily establishing itself as a data center destination in India, with data centers dotting Salt Lake and New Town. It has already attracted huge investments from top national and international players such as Adani, Nxtra by Airtel, NTT, Sify, and many others.
But it appears that the West Bengal government wants to spread out its data center infrastructure across the state, with IT hubs being developed in Hoogly, Purulia, and Siliguri. There is also a submarine cable landing station being developed at Tajpur.
The West Bengal government announced its official Data Center Policy in 2021, and has built its own West Bengal State Data Center (WBSDC) as part of Mission Mode Project under National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) (presently known as Digital India). The state hopes to strengthen its e-governance initiatives, and also support the growing needs of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and start-ups.
