Answering to questions in the Assembly, state minister for information technology (IT) Debesh Das on Thursday said that the move would help in the development of the segment.

While Rajarhat is the first choice, the hub's location has still not been finalised, he added.

On March 19, a meeting of the upcoming wireless technology research centre will be held at the Calcutta University, in coordination with the Centre for TeleInFrastruktur (CTIF), Aalborg University, Denmark, for discussing new initiatives on international projects.

Das said that the upcoming India Design Centre at Sector-V is the first step towards developing the wireless segment in the state. The hub will house companies that develop high-end software for computer chips.

The minister said that beside Kolkata, the government is keen to develop other towns like Haldia, Kharagpur, Siliguri, Durgapur and Kalyani as IT hubs.

"The IT industry in the state grew at 31 per cent in 2005-06. In 2006-07 the rate of growth went up to 46 per cent. Despite a growth in volume (of units), our growth rate also increased. This indicates that we are growing fast," Das said, adding that the national average growth rate during 2006-07 was 32 per cent.

As per official figures, the state ranks eighth in the country in terms of employment and investments. Around 60,000 persons are employed in the sector at present.