Government to clear two ITIR proposals

NEW DELHI, INDIA: In order to attract ICT investment, the Centre is considering two mega projects from the states of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. These two ITIR (Information Technology Investment Region) schemes are proposed at Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar, while a similar 272 acre project in Bangalore has got Cabinet sanction recently.

Speaking at the India ESDM (Electronic System Design and Manufacturing) conclave, organized by Indian Chamber of Commerce, DEitY secretary J Sathyanarayana said that policy framework and necessary guidelines have already been put in place, and as a consequence, new investments are pouring in to create the roadmap for sectoral growth.

The ESDM market, he said, is growing at a rate of 20 per cent annually. "We have conducted roundtable with 25 states recently. These states are competing with each other. India has a talent pool and entrepreneurship," Sathyanarayana informed. The Government of India, he said, has come out with a multi-prolonged approach while supply chain issue needs to be addressed.

DeitY is currently considering six proposals of electronic manufacturing clusters. There are located in states of Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. "We are also initiating Chip to System program that conceptualizes the whole process to facilitate domestic manufacturing. To catalyze this, we have come up with preferential market access policy," the secretary informed.

The Cabinet has recently approved ITIR near Bangalore Airport. The Karnataka Government has also notified 272 acres of land for acquisition. ''One ITIR in Hyderabad and the other near Bhubaneswar airport in Orissa is in the pipeline that can be approved in the next couple of months,'' Sathyanarayana added.

The government has recently notified six products under PMA guidelines that also included LED. Sathyanarayana informed that they are mulling regulatory framework wherein all the government buildings would be required to leverage LEDs to reduce energy consumption. The government has also raised investment in the electronic sector to $5 billion during the current fiscal.

ICC director general Rajeev Singh believes that there is huge domestic market whereas a small fragment is being tapped by Indian companies. ''It's imperative that the Central and State governments create a conducive environment and support tax regime. Hardware has the potential to create employment, provide disposable income and help Indian economy,'' Singh added.