IBM has set up a new application services facility in India’s north-eastern state of West Bengal, in a city that has emerged as one of the country’s key software and services hubs.The new facility is in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, and is equipped to have about 3,000 staff, a spokeswoman for IBM India said. She could not give a timeframe for the expansion.Kolkata has emerged as a center for IT services because of the surprisingly business-friendly policies of West Bengal’s communist government. A number of multinational companies and Indian outsourcers, with bases in Bangalore, Mumbai or Delhi, have expanded to Kolkata in a bid to tap new pools of talent. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe IBM already has three other delivery centers in the city, and it’s home to IBM’s second-largest pool of employees in India after Bangalore. The Armonk, New York, company announced in June that it is investing US$6 billion in India over the next three years. It’s part of IBM’s strategy to grow its presence in emerging markets such as China and Brazil, because they offer vast pools of staff and also because they are attractive markets themselves.IBM had about 43,000 staff in India as of June. It has hired more staff since then for its software and business process outsourcing (BPO) operations in India, according to industry sources. -John Ribeiro, IDG News Service (Bangalore Bureau)Related Links: India Revamps National Portal With Aid from IBM IBM to Open Innovation Centers to Startups, VCs IBM-Led Group Tapped for Military RFID Research IBM Taps Partners to Tout Revamped SametimeCheck out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content opinion CIOs worry about Gen AI – for all the right reasons Generative AI is poised to be the most consequential information technology of the decade. Plenty of promise. But expect novel new challenges to your enterprise data platform. By Mike Feibus Sep 20, 2023 7 mins CIO Generative AI Artificial Intelligence brandpost How Zero Trust can help align the CIO and CISO By Jaye Tillson, Field CTO at HPE Aruba Networking Sep 20, 2023 4 mins Zero Trust brandpost So, you’re ready to invest in Universal ZTNA. Here’s what you should know With careful evaluation and planning, implementing Universal ZTNA for all users offers a simple, effective way to enhance security across your entire network. By Peter Newton Sep 20, 2023 6 mins Zero Trust news ServiceNow boasts industry-first gen AI general availability with Vancouver release of Now Most major software vendors say they will incorporate generative AI in their applications; ServiceNow claims it will be the first to deliver the code. By Peter Sayer Sep 20, 2023 6 mins CIO Software Providers Zero Trust Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe