STPI shifts its western India HQ to Pune

Recently there have been major changes in govt IT policy and STPI regulations

At the ‘IT Industry Meet 2014’ organized by the Software Exporters Association of Pune (SEAP) & NASSCOM, Omkar Rai - Director General, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) announced that STPI has shifted its western India headquarters from Mumbai to Pune.

“Pune has been one of the fastest growing cities in Asia, and in India its second largest growing IT destination after Bangalore. Going forward our key focus at SEAP will be to encouraging innovation, product development, entrepreneurship and Start-up mentoring,” said Prashant Pansare, Vice President SEAP.

Recently there have been major changes in the Govt IT policy and STPI regulations, affecting the productivity and competitiveness of IT segment."

Rai said: “Due to the growth shown by Pune IT industry and the future it presents for itself, STPI has shifted all western India operations to Pune.  The city today stands at number two in terms of Software Exports after Bangalore which means it makes Maharashtra at number two for Software Exports in India.”

Pune boasts of a total of Rs 29,000 crore software exports as of FY 2012-13 raising Maharahstra Exports to Rs 51,000 crores second only to Karnataka which is at Rs 80,000 crores. These exports are only STPI Export figures and are accounted on the basis of Annual Appraisal and Softex Forms submitted by STPI registered units.

STPI has been serving the Indian IT industry since 1991 and is the single window clearance system for all software exporters. Since the expiration of Income Tax exemption under 10A and 10B since March 2011, The Government is doing a due diligence to reposition STPI.

As a part of this repositioning, the government has introduced two policies, National Policy of IT 2012 and National Policy of Electronics 2012. The potential of growth for these industries is huge and electronics Industry alone can create over 30 mn jobs, said Rai.

STPI is creating 1 million sq ft of space for Start-ups and the process for this has already begun.

Pune already has 40,000 sq.ft of STPI space and 13,000 sq.ft of this space is available for newer start-ups to register for.

STPI is revising its regulations to ease the entry and exit for start-ups. Under the National Policy of IT and Electronics, simplification of procedures is being considered to cut down on transactional costs. These revisions are being prepared by the government in consultation with the Industry and will aid the start-ups registering under STPI.