West Bengal would set up new IT hubs to facilitate expansion and create employment in the IT and ITeS sectors, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said yesterday.

"We will set up IT hubs at Siliguri, Durgapur, Haldia and Kharagpur," Bhattacharjee said at the foundation laying ceremony of the East Kolkata IT Park here.

He said West Bengal had been a late bloomer in the domain of IT as compared to Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. "Since 2002 when the IT sector started to take off, the growth has been good," he said.

The IT park would come up at Nonadanga near the metropolis. It would be operational in 18-24 months and would involve a cost of Rs 500 crore.

Rolta, HSBC and HCL would set up development centres on 5, 3.5 and 1.5 acre respectively. Managing director of Rolta India K K Singh told reporters that the company would invest Rs 250 crore and create employment for 5000 people.