Centre gives nod for STPI unit at Balasore

The STPI facility at Balasore will be fourth such facility in Odisha

the Union government has given its nod to set up a STPI (Software Technological Parks of India) facility at Balasore, the economic hub of north Odisha.

STPI facility at Balasore will be fourth such facility in the state after Bhubaneswar, Rourkela and Berhampur for promotion of software exports.

For setting up STPI unit at Balasore the Union ministry for Communications and Information and Technology has given its in principle approval, said an official in the state IT (information technology) department.

The approval comes barely a month after the state governments request to the ministry to set up the center in the coastal district.

STPI is an autonomous society under Union ministry of communication and information technology for promotion of software exports from the country.

For establishing the center at Balasore, the state government has already allocated a sum of Rs 3 crore (Rs 1 crore as states contribution and Rs two crore for additional infrastructure) in the state Budget for 2012-13.

The government has already identified 2.035 acre land with built up space of 6,000 sq ft for the proposed facility.

The Union government, in 2010, had shown interest to set up a STPI facility at Balasore. The Centre had written to the state government to provide the required state contribution of Rs 1 crore as grant-in-aid, three acres of land and 10,000 sq ft built-up area.

Steps are being taken to expand the available area of 2.035 acres by adding the adjacent plots and making it a contiguous patch of more than three acres and providing minimum 10,000 sq ft built-up space by using the additional budget amount of Rs 2 crore, state IT minister Raghunath Mohanty had written to Kapil Sibal, Union minister for Communication and IT in December, 2012.

The exports by IT firms, registered with STPI and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) stood at Rs 1,611.67 crore compared to Rs 1,376.88 crore in 2010-11, a growth of 17 per cent.