Tamil Nadu to come up with new IT policy to attract investments

The existing policy is nine-years-old

At a time when there have been allegations that Tamil Nadu is losing its sheen as an investment destination, the state government is expected to come up with an IT policy to replace the existing nine-year-old policy, according to sources.

Sources said that the industry has said that a policy adopting the latest changes in the IT industry is the final stages of completion and an announcement in this regard would come out anytime soon. Official sources said that the work has been in progress in the past, in lines with the decision of the government during the previous Global Investors' Meet (GIM) in 2015.

The industry sources said that they have shared their opinion on the industry requirements, including a start up policy and on expanding the IT space to the tier II, III cities by attracting industries to this region. The government has accepted the requests in a positive way, they said.

State-owned ELCOT has established 8 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) for the development of IT/ITES in Tier-I and Tier-II cities as per the policy decision of the Government of Tamil Nadu at Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai (2 places), Tiruchy, Salem, Tirunelveli and Hosur. From these Special Economic Zones, 68,900 direct employment and 1,37,800 indirect employment have been created. In the year 2015-16, software exports from these ELCOSEZs were Rs 17,266 crore, according to the State government.