UP to set up IT SEZ in Lucknow

The Uttar Pradesh government will soon start the process of setting up an information technology special economic zone (SEZ) in Lucknow to stop the migration of state talent pool to other states.

The SEZ would be set up in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode, where the developers and investors would be provided land on concessional rates.

The UP industry had long been demanding from the state government to facilitate the development of such an enclave around Lucknow to give a fillip to the economic development in the region.

According to industry sources, Lucknow has big potential to emerge as an IT hub, since around 12 per cent of India’s top-of-line IT professionals come from this part of the country.

“The graduates from colleges affiliated to the UP Technical University and other institutes migrate to other states in search of IT jobs, since such employment avenues are not available in UP, except for areas falling under the National Capital Region (NCR),” UP IT and Electronics Principal Secretary Chandra Prakash told Business Standard.

He informed the state government would request the IT industry to open shops in the proposed SEZ, so that the state graduates can get jobs right here.

“Lucknow is an ideal place for setting up of the IT SEZ, since it is well connected to other areas and the cost of living is quite low compared to other metros and big cities,” he added.

He maintained the current IT Policy was adequate for the setting up of the SEZ and it would not need any fine-tuning or amendment. “We only need to ensure that we pursue the proposed project in a time bound manner,” he noted.

There are over 75 engineering colleges in and around Lucknow alone comprising the Lucknow-Kanpur-Allahabad-Varanasi belt. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) already has a large global delivery centre in Lucknow, while the Essar Group has an Aegis BPO unit in the city.