Gujarat govt eyes one million job creation under new IT policy

The state is expecting $15 billion turnover in IT sector in next five years, said the FM Saurabh Patel

In a bid to promote information technology (IT) and IT enable services (ITeS) in the state, Gujarat government has announced new IT policy for the 2016-2021. Apart from aiming at 10 times more investment in IT sector, the state government is eyeing one million job creation through this policy.

"As part of Digital India initiative by central government, we have announced this new policy which will attract more investment and create new jobs within the state," said Saurabh Patel, finance minister of Gujarat government.

Talking about the investment expectation, Patel said, "We are expecting $15 billion turnover in IT sector in next five years from Gujarat as against the current $ 880 million. Also the new policy will boost export from the state to $ 2 billion."

Under the policy, the state government will provide capital subsidy of Rs 25 crore to IT parks and subsidy on registration fees and stamp duty. Moreover, it will also provide special incentives for power tariff and in value added tax (VAT).

Individual companies who set up IT units in the state will also have similar benefits.

The government expecting that the new policy will generate nearly one million new jobs in IT sector during next five years. Under the IT policy, the state government is looking to provide employment generation incentive through employment provident fund (EPF) contribution for the five years. IT companies will get 100 per cent of EPF amount paid by the government in case of female employees while in case of male employees, it will have 75 per cent of EPF amount.

"Skill manpower is available in the state as there are several educational institutes in Gujarat which provides IT related education. We believes that this policy will attract around one million jobs for the local boys," said Patel.

According to department of science and technology officials, every year more than 45,000 students pass out in IT electronics and other engineering.

Under the policy, Gujarat government will provide market development support, patent assistance, support for research and development and quality certification. Meanwhile, government is planning to showcase its IT policy by organizing road shows in other state and through other platforms.