Infosys, in a social media post on Wednesday, said it hopes to start operations in Calcutta soon and will give updates, including job openings.

The company has taken about 40,000-square-foot office in Mani Casadona at Rajarhat where initially it could accommodate around 300-400 people while its campus in the city nears completion.

“Kolkata here we come! Infosys now in your very own city. Looking forward to welcoming you to our office soon. Stay tuned for latest updates and job openings!,” the IT bellwether said in a post on Facebook.

Back in August 2018, Infosys had said it wants to set up a software development centre in Calcutta and the foundation stone was laid by Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

The company had taken 50 acres at New Town and said it plans to invest Rs 100 crore in the first phase of construction with an employment potential for 1,000 engineers in the early stages.

While the company had initially set a timeline of 15 months for the completion of the first phase, a combination of delay in obtaining statutory clearances and subsequently economic disruption due to Covid followed by macroeconomic headwinds resulted in the delay.

“The construction of the Infosys campus is nearing completion. We had asked the company to expedite the project. But it has to be taken into consideration that there was a Covid-related setback and with work-from-home being the norm at that point, many companies were reluctant to continue making capital investment,” said a government official.

“We now hope to soon get an update from the company as to when they intend to formally launch their campus,” the official said.

No immediate comment was available from Infosys with the company being in a silent period ahead of its board meeting scheduled on April 13, 2023, to consider the financial results for the quarter and year ending March 31, 2023.

Sources said that over the last three–months, state government officials have been pro-actively seeking out IT companies to understand the delay in executing projects, particularly in Bengal's Silicon Valley hub.

After the Covid pandemic, there has been a significant upswing in interest among IT and telecom firms to set up their projects in the state.