Maha govt to include manufacturing sectors in new ITES policy

The Information Technology Enabled Services policy is to be implemented from April next year

The Maharashtra government has decided to make its new ITES policy more investor-friendly by including manufacturing sectors related to IT and telecommunications in it.

The Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) policy is to be implemented from April next year.

The present IT policy, the term of which expired in October this year, was given an extension till March 2015. The earlier policy had come into existence in 2009.

"The new policy that we have planned will not only be related to the IT sector, but IT-enabled services will also be included in it," said Rajesh Aggarwal, Principal Secretary of the state IT department.

Industries Minister Subhash Desai said a rough draft of the new policy will be made public in January 2015, to incorporate viable suggestions.

"We have been holding several meetings to discuss different aspects of our new policy. We seek to make a draft of this policy open for public from January onwards, so that we can take note of reactions and incorporate viable suggestions in it," Desai said.

"We are banking on IT giants like Infosys, TISCO and NASSCOM to give us suggestions. They will help us make our policy industry-friendly," he said.

Though the major features of the policy have yet to be finalised, the focus will be on ensuring that power is made available to the IT Industry at cheap rate, the Minister said.

"Investors who are interested in setting up IT firms in cities like Nagpur are asking us to minimise power tariffs. Currently, states like Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are providing power at a cost of Rs 4.50 per unit, while Maharashtra provides power at Rs 6.50 per unit.

"We aim to reduce tariffs by at least Rs 1 per unit that will enhance the feasibility of the industry by at least 20 per cent," he said.