Chandrababu clears Wipro SEZ, allots land for Tech Mahindra

Hyderabad, July 9 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh, which aims to become the silicon corridor of India by attracting an investment of $2 billion in Information Technology and $5 billion in electronics manufacturing, Wednesday launched a series of initiatives.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu agreed to accord permission to Wipro to set up Special Economic Zone (SEZ) facility and to the allotment of 10 acres of land to Tech Mahindra and 13 acres to the Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research (SAMEER).

SAMEER is a research and development laboratory under the information technology department in the union communications and information technology ministry.

Naidu, who reviewed IT promotion initiatives, said the proposal for the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) at Visakhapatnam should be sent to the union government in 15 days.

He also asked officials to firm up at the earliest the proposal for another ITIR from Tirupati to Anantapur.

The chief minister gave in-principle approval for developing a mega IT hub at Visakhapatnam over five million square feet through public-private partnership.

Other IT hubs will come up at Vijayawada, Kakinada, Tirupati, Anantapur with walk-to-work and cycle-to-work concepts.

Naidu announced a special committee to resolve the issues of IT companies in Visakhapatnam. The committee will visit Visakhaptnam July 16 and come up with solutions in two weeks.

The proposed IT policy of the state also aims to attain five percent share in national export of software and provide additional five lakh direct employment by 2020.

Naidu Wednesday discussed IT promotion initiatives with IT Minister P. Raghunath Reddy, advisor IT department J. Satyanarayana, Secretary in IT, electronics and communication department Sanjay Jaju, and other officials.

Naidu, who is credited with developing Hyderabad as a global IT hub when he was the chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh during 1995-2004, is virtually starting from scratch as Hyderabad is now part of newly-created Telangana state.

The chief minister gave his approval for an empowered mission on IT and electronics as a not-to-profit society headed by a technocrat with three experts in electronics, IT and academics, one expert in marketing and promotion and drawing support of a professional agency.

The state government will continue existing incentives for the IT industry. The land allotment policy will be rationalized and streamlined by offering employment linked rebate of Rs.60,000 per person employed by mega projects and Rs.40,000 by other IT companies.

The mission of the IT policy will be to make at least one person e-literate in every house. The focus will be to position Andhra Pradesh as the first in India in quality and quantity of e-services.

Naidu said the vision statement of the state should be to develop Andhra Pradesh as innovation society of global repute with a focus on enhancing the quality of life of its citizens through high-quality education and healthcare, increased productivity in agriculture and allied activities, creation of employment by promoting electronics and IT and above all by providing good governance.