 "Karnataka Revises IT Policy To Retain Competitive Edge")
The Karnataka government is revising its IT policy in a bid to retain its competitive edge and remain a favoured investment destination in the knowledge economy.
“We are taking inputs from the industry, particularly the vision group on IT headed by Infosys Technologies chairman and chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy, for revising the policy,” said Katta Subramanya Naidu, state IT and BT minister.
Stung by the flight of capital to other states, including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, due to political instability and fall of three governments over the last three years, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is pulling all stops to ensure expansion by existing firms and fresh investments keep flowing into the state.
“To improve the business environment, we propose to set up an independent IT, BT and Science and Technology (S&T) authority to offer single-window clearance to all IT/BT-related projects. The authority will not only promote these sectors in the state, but will also provide facilitation and public-private partnerships for creating IT infrastructure across the state,” said Naidu.
The state is also formulating a semiconductor policy to attract investments in the hardware sector, especially in electronics and IT products. The focus will be on manufacturing solar photo-voltaic cells for generating solar energy. An electronics hardware technology park has been planned to come up near the Bangalore international airport at Devanahalli, about 40km from the tech hub.
“We are committed to improve the IT infrastructure not only in Bangalore, but also in tier-two and tier-three cities such as Mysore, Mangalore, Hubli-Dharwad, Belgaum, Gulbarga and Shimoga, where IT zones are being planned,” said Naidu.
The state government has cleared 32 IT projects with investments worth Rs 36 billion during the last five months. The projects are expected to generate about 100,000 jobs.
Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa said, “The fundamentals of ICT have taken a firm foothold during the past decade. In the coming decade too, ICT will be the driving force of economic growth and a success story of the Indian economy”.
Admitting the global meltdown caused by the recent financial crises in the US and Europe was likely to slowdown technology spend, affecting the Indian IT industry’s revenues, the chief minister said the inherent strengths developed over time would enable it to withstand the impact and remain resilient to sustain growth. (IANS)