Info-valley electronics cluster gets in-principle nod

The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY) under the Union ministry of communications and information technology has accorded the in-principle approval for setting up of an Electronics Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) under the EMCs scheme in the state.

"In principle approval has been accorded for the proposed cluster in Odisha. Grant of Rs 96.96 crore has been approved by DEITY for the cluster to be developed over in 215.76 acres under the EMC scheme," said an official source.

The cluster will come up at the proposed Info Valley at the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.

In addition, final approval has also been awarded for two EMCs at Bhopal and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.

We will seek the final detailed project report (DPR) for the cluster in Odisha, the official added.

The EMC cluster in the state will be a greenfield project as there are hardly any existing hardware industries in the state. The approval of the centre is likely to give impetus to the development of Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector in the state.

The EMC scheme supports creation of world-class infrastructure for attracting investments in the ESDM sector. It supports setting up of both greenfield and brownfield EMCs.

Under the scheme, the assistance will be provided to a special purpose vehicle (SPV), which will be a legal entity duly registered for this purpose. The SPV may be promoted by private companies, industry associations, financial institutions, research & development institutions, state or local governments or their agencies and units within the EMC.

The financial assistance to the SPV will come in the form of grant-in-aid only. For greenfield EMCs, the assistance will be restricted to 50 per cent of the project cost, subject to a ceiling of Rs 50 crore for every 100 acres of land and for the brownfield EMCs, the assistance will be restricted to 75 per cent of the project cost subject to a ceiling of Rs 50 crore.

The state government has already prepared a strategic road map for the growth of ESDM sector in the state. The state's new Information and Communication Technology Policy-2014 offers a number of incentives to attract investors both from the software and hardware industry.

The National Policy on Electronics has set a target to achieve a turnover of about $ 400 billion by 2020. This would require about $100 billion investment, generating 28 million jobs.