Cabinet nod for IT investment region in Hyderabad

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the setting up of Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) near Hyderabad at an investment of around Rs.2.19 lakh crore.

The ministries of road transport and highways, urban development and railways will initiate a detailed feasibility study of the project, an official release said Friday.

Out of the total investment, IT and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITeS) sectors will attract investments of Rs.1.18 lakh crore and the Electronic Hardware Manufacturing (EHM) sector Rs.1.01 lakh crore.

The major investment will be through public-private partnerships model.

The ITIR is expected to generate direct employment of 14.8 lakh and indirect employment of 55.9 lakh.

The Andhra Pradesh government has delineated an area of 202 square km for the ITIR in three clusters - Cyberabad Development Area (CDA) and its surroundings, Hyderabad Airport Development Area (HADA) and Maheshwaram in the south of Hyderabad, and Uppal and Pocharam areas in eastern Hyderabad.

The ITIR will be implemented in two phases. Phase-I will span from 2013 to 2018 and phase-II from 2018 to 2038.

ITIR is envisaged as self contained integrated knowledge cluster dedicated to establishment and growth of IT, ITES, and EHM units. It will be a combination of production units, public utilities, logistic, environmental protection mechanism, residential areas and administrative services.

ITIR will include Special Economic Zones (SEZs), industrial parks, free trade zones, warehousing zones, export oriented units, growth centres, existing settlements/ industries and estates/services.

Welcoming the nod for the proposal, Andhra Pradesh Information Technology Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah said soon after the issue of gazzette notification by the centre, the state government would initiate the steps for development works.

He said the project was expected to generate direct revenues of Rs.310,849 crore. The IT investment potential is Rs.219,440 crore and IT exports Rs.235,000 crore. The state's tax revenues will increase by Rs.30,170 crore.

The estimated cost of external infrastructure will be Rs.4,863 crore. It includes provision of Metro Rail connectivity, setting up of power sub stations, widening of national highways and radial roads of Outer Ring Road (ORR) upto the periphery of ITIR clusters. The state has sought financial help from the central government for the same.

The estimated cost of internal infrastructure like provision of roads, water, electricity, sewerage lines within the ITIR clusters is Rs.13,093 crore.