Gujarat govt to pen action plan for IT

Gujarat will become an important information technology (IT) destination in the world in the near future, chief minister Narendra Modi on Friday said.

Modi said this while inaugurating the Communication and Information Technology (CIT) 2004, a conference-cum-exposition organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with Gujarat Informatics Ltd and the government of Gujarat at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, (IIM-A).

The chief minister said the government is working out a detailed action plan to ensure that Gujarat becomes a hub of IT companies.

Although Rs 66,000 crore worth of investments were promised in the state during the Global Investors' Summit, the share of IT projects was almost negligible.

The chief minister said while the necessary infrastructure for the growth of the IT sector is already in place, there is a need to market Gujarat as an IT destination.

Apart from Ambalal Sarabhai Enterprises Ltd showing interest to set up an IT park at Vadodara with an investment of Rs 50 crore and Vibgyor Group of Companies showing readiness to set up an info-cum entertainment park at Bagodara for Rs 1,200 crore, there has not been any other concrete proposal for the IT sector during the Vibrant Gujarat sequel that concluded on Tuesday.

Clearly, investors see no promising gains in this sector in the state. The software technology park at Gandhinagar too has not been faring too well. Several companies that have already registered at the STP are considering exiting from the park.

Incidentally, the state government has held meetings with top IT bosses over the past six months in order to attract them to the state.

Modi said, "CIT stands for 'calculated initiative for take-off' and we are ready for the take off to bring Gujarat on the world's IT map."

On e-governance, Modi said, "According to the data of the central government, Gujarat leads in e-governance after Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal and e-governance for Gujarat means efficient governance, easy governance and effective governance."

Modi said, "In spite of having the infrastructure, we lacked communication. Gujarat's state wide area network of more than 50,000 kms is the Asia's largest and the world's second largest. With such a huge network, technology can be taken to the grass-roots level within minutes, which is not possible anywhere in the world."

The infrastructure for bio-technology is ready in the state as Gujarat leads in the pharmaceuticals industry in the country. The first pharma college was set up in Ahmedabad 50 years ago. Twenty-first century will be the century of bio technology, he said.

Modi said, "IT stands for 'India today' and BT stands for 'Bharat tomorrow', while the world is thinking of today, Gujarat is ready for tomorrow."

"Human resource development is needed in the state and we are having state-of-the-art institutes for that, which includes the Nirma Institute of Technology (NIT) and the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Technology (DAIT)," he said.

Piruz Khambatta, chairman, CII, Gujarat council, said "Some one told that India will become a developed nation by March 2010, but the way changes are taking place, I believe that India will be a developed nation much ahead 2010. We are already having mini computer in our hands as mobile phones, through which we can send e-mails and process data."

"We need to build IT 'ashrams' to promote IT as a way of life like yoga, IT Vishvya Vidyalayayas to educate and develop world class talents, and 'IT prachar abhiyaan' to market IT abroad and to showcase to the world what India can offer." Khambatta said.

S Ramadorai, chief executive officer, Tata Consultancy Services, said, "India is a recognised player in the world of IT, with more than six lakh Indians at an average age of 26 years working in this industry. More than three per cent of the GDP comes from the IT sector. India receives $10 billion from IT exports, while only $2 billion is received from domestic consumption. Indian industry has not adopted IT in a big way and IT can play a big role in secondary wealth creation."