Telangana eyes top slot on country's IT map with new policy

Targets Rs 1.36 lakh cr IT exports and to create 400,000 jobs in next five years

The Telangana government has formulated a new information technology (IT) policy as it seeks to achieve the numero uno position in the country's IT map by doubling software exports from the state to Rs 1.36 lakh crore over the next five years.

To be formally released by Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy in the presence of chief minister K Chandrasekhara Rao in Hyderabad on April 4, the new policy would lay more emphasis on doubling the number of IT jobs, besides leveraging the recent spurt in the growth of Tier-II and Tier-III cities like Warangal, Karimnagar and Nizamabad to create IT hubs there.

Telangana currently houses around 1,300 IT companies, together employing over 371,000 professionals. About 90 new companies are setting up operations in the state every year.

According to officials, the state government had taken significant steps, including providing up to 50 per cent capital investment subsidy, and reimbursement of stamp duty, transfer duty, electricity charges and patent charges to encourage IT companies that opt to set up shop in Tier-II and Tier-III cities.

Start-up focus

The state government has also drafted four sub-policies - an innovation policy to attract startup firms, an electronic system design and manufacturing (ESDM) policy to encourage manufacture of electronic products, a rural tech policy to provide employment opportunities to rural youth, and an animation and gaming policy.

"The new policy aims to foster more startup companies in the state. The government is targeting to create one million sft of incubation space for startups over the next five years, besides facilitating financial aid to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore through international investment firms. The idea is to incubate and mentor 2,500 startups in the state in the next five years," the officials said.

Stating that the government is sharpening its focus on encouraging establishment of business process outsourcing (BPO) centres in rural areas, the officials said the government was readying plans to setup a rural tech centre in each of the 10 districts and provide employment to 2,500 youth in each district in the first phase.

"The proposed BPO call centres will provide employment to Telugu-speaking intermediate and graduation pass outs. The government is making arrangements to train 10,000 rural youth at TASK (Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge) in areas such as data processing, data entry, data management, document digitisation, voice-related services, customer support HR finance and legal services," they said.