Digital Maharashtra: state govt to release draft IT, ITeS policy within a month

Pune, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Nashik and Aurangabad to be developed as IT hubs, with focus on hardware and electronics manufacturing

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra plans to release the draft policy for information technology (IT) and information technology-enabled services (ITeS) in a month’s time aimed at boosting software, hardware, consultancy and business process outsourcing (BPO) sectors. The government also intends to promote animation, visual effects and gaming to provide considerable value addition.

The draft policy will seek inputs from industry and the final policy will be drafted after taking into consideration the feedback received from various stakeholders.

The draft policy, which will be part of the government's Digital Maharashtra initiatives, will also address areas such as IT hardware and telecom manufacturing. The proposed IT and ITes policy will be the third such policy for the state (similar policies were brought out in 2003 and 2009) and it envisages drastic reduction in the number of clearances and government approvals. It also proposes to provide a slew of incentives to the investors. These incentives will be in addition to existing sops such as exemption in stamp duty, additional floor space index for IT parks and value-added tax on sale of IT products charged at the minimum floor rate.

State IT secretary Rajesh Agarwal told Business Standard: “Since the 2003 policy, IT exports from Maharashtra have increased by 135 per cent, positioning Maharashtra among the top three states. The growth rate of FDI (foreign direct investment) in the state’s IT sector has been the highest in the country. Maharashtra is also a leader in the telecommunications sector, and is home to over 20 per cent of the broadband subscribers in India. More importantly, Mumbai is the internet capital of the country." He said that Pune, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Nashik and Aurangabad will be developed as the vibrant IT hubs with major focus on hardware and electronics manufacturing in the state.

According to Agarwal, private data centres will be encouraged in Pune, Aurangabad, Nagpur and Nashik. “All big players such as IBM, Microsoft, Net Magic and Docomo want to set up data centres in the state,” he added.

The Digital Maharashtra initiative also suggests mandatory e-tendering in public procurement. The limit for mandatory e-tendering will be reduced to Rs 3 lakh from Rs 10 lakh and it will be extended to rural and urban local bodies, state public-sector undertakings and boards. Auto refund and paper-less bank guarantee options will be explored.

The government also intends to make e-auction mandatory for the entire state from January 1, 2015 where the reserve price exceeds Rs 1 lakh. The e-auction will also be compulsory for public resources such as sand, forest produce and lands.

Meanwhile, the state government has declared 2015 as the "'digital year" to take a number of government facilities online, thereby bringing in transparency and reduction in time needed for government procedures.