With people from the Northeast comprising 25% of the total BPO workforce in India, Meghalaya is all set to establish its first Software Development Park of India (STPI) by July, a first step to encourage the IT penetration in the land-locked region. Ranjan Chatterjee, chief secretary, Government of Meghalaya, in an interaction with Bhaskar Hazarika and R Jai Krishna from CyberMedia News, shared the government's plan on offering incentives to attract IT companies.

CMN: When is the STPI getting operational in Meghalaya? And is the Indian government responding to it?
Ranjan Chatterjee: The Government of India has examined the proposal and commissioned setting up the STPI. It will be operational by July this year. The state has allotted two acres of land for setting up the STPI. It has been handed over to STPI now and the project is getting its final touch.

The government's response has been positive in this regard. With the country's growing IT industry, which has bagged recognition across the globe, each state is taking IT initiatives to contribute to the growth.

CMN: How is the response from the industry in terms of setting up BPOs in the state? What are your plans?
RC: A lot of companies have expressed interest, and are in the process of evaluation. We are in the process of evaluating the proposals. The response from the industry has been encouraging and we are expecting more companies in the coming months.

Apart from the BPO sector we are also looking at the manufacturing space. It is a place which is landlocked and we want to open it up in terms of employment opportunities. Hand holding exercise is planned by the government to create congenial atmosphere for the companies here.

CMN: What are the incentives that the state government would be offering to companies willing to set up offices here?
RC: We are currently reworking on a new IT policy to offer better incentives to companies for setting up centers here. Further subsidies in power, value addition and land can be provided on a case-to-case basis.

Uninterrupted power supply, available cheap manpower, and support of the government will attract companies to set up BPOs here. However, the quality of English speaking population will definitely be an added advantage. From the HR point of view our state is well equipped to house BPOs.

CMN: What is your roadmap in terms of inviting IT companies to set up offices in Meghalaya?
RC: We are looking at the big companies and not fly-by night kind of companies. Even though we have received expression of interest from these kinds of companies, we are not keen on offering them to set up centers here.

We are planning to organize an annual Business Summit in September 2007, which will offer a platform for companies to explore dialogue with government officials. As a part of business initiative our officials will be visiting IT hubs of the country like Gurgaon and Bangalore, designated as 'Business Ambassadors'.

CMN: Will this initiative by Meghalaya open up opportunities for the entire region? What are the challenges RC: that you see for the companies setting up centers in Shillong?
Yes, this is definitely going to open up job opportunities for the people of this region. This is the first initiative being taken by the government of this region to invite investments in the IT sector.

The big question is, can Northeast process for India in terms of offering better workforce? If we talk about connectivity, will this remain an issue for the Northeast always? We believe the call from this region will be successful in ringing the bells in the Silicon City.