Infosys not to get SEZ status: Mamata
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today ruled out granting SEZ status to Infosys, sought by the IT major, in line with the state's land policy, but gave an assurance that the company would get all the benefits associated with an SEZ.
''I want Infosys to come and I have full sympathy for it. I will give all the benefits it wants. Whatever benefits it is getting within an SEZ project, I shall give them if it asks, provided they are within my capacity and it does not press for the SEZ nomenclature,'' Banerjee said.
''If I formulate a law and a policy that I shall not allow SEZ, then how can I relax it for an individual? I was against SEZ and I shall be against it in future. We have prepared a land policy and our stand is in line with it," she said in an interview to a private TV channel.
She said the government wants Infosys to come to the state and boys and girls to reap the benefits of its presence.
''But, we are opposed to granting SEZ status to a company alongwith with our resistance to FDI in retail, forceful acquisition of land and privatisation of banking and insurance sector. We have a principled stand on all these issues,'' she said.
The company was recently allotted 50 acres of land in the Rajarhat area near the metropolis for setting up its first facility in the state.
The company had made full payment for the land in October, last year. Recently the company wrote a letter to the Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation seeking clarification on its SEZ status in the state.
