Sibal plans another tech park in Punjab

In near future, Punjab may have its second STPI (Software Technology Parks of India) centre in Amritsar, the first being in Mohali. This was stated by Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology, while laying the foundation stone for SPTIs state-of-the-art incubation centre at Mohali in Punjab.

Responding to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s request, Sibal said he would ask his department to create an additional 1 million square feet area for IT companies across India and further ask them to look at setting up another centre in Amritsar.

Sibal laid the foundation stone for the STPI’s incubation centre, which would cater and support IT SMEs sector in the northern region. The state of the art incubation centre would have approximately 1.40 lakh square feet build up space and will be built with an estimated cost of Rs 55 crore. The land measuring 4,965 square yards provided by the state government, while the project cost would be funded by the Centre.

 

It is worth noting that STPI Mohali was established in the year 1998, when the IT activities were at a nascent stage and exports from the region were just around Rs 7 crore. The exports from the region witnessed exponential growth over the years and has crossed Rs 1,500 crore, which is a milestone for any Tier-II city. During the financial year 2010-11, the export from this region were recorded as Rs 1,565 crore.

Further, in financial year 2011-12, the IT/ITes exports had touched Rs 1,900 crore.

Off late, the region has emerged as the top most Tier-II cities in the North India & has emerged as one of the best Tier-II cities on all India basis. The Tricity region (Chandigarh, Panchkula, Mohali) has around 170 IT/ITES units, predominantly in the small medium entrepreneur(SMEs) sector. The region has the potential to develop into a product development hub as around 20 SME are into product development and their products are acceptable world wide.

As far as the centre is concerned, the proposed building is designed with green building concept with highest GRIHA rating. The Tier-II compliant state-of-the-art Green Data centre in 10,000 square feet will be housed having sufficient infrastructure. The state-of-the-art Network Operation Centre(NOC), equipped with infrastructure which would ensure the best managed services. The building will also have STPI’s local administrative office with fully furnished incubation, conference hall, meeting room & discussion lounge in the second floor.

Later, on responding to the chief minister’s demand, the Union minister also said that the central government is setting up electronic system manufacturing cluster across India, and the ministry may think of setting up one such cluster at Ropar as the state government has offered 40 acres of land.