MP identifies Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior & Jabalpur for fast-track development A Red Carpet for IT industry

The government of Madhya Pradesh, in a bid to boost the growth of the Information Technology industry in the state, has announced a number of incentives to the emerging knowledge sector. These include the availability of large chunks of land measuring more than 100 acres located near the airports of four important cities, namely Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior and Jabalpur. The state government will act as a facilitator and encourage the private sector to build IT parks and other infrastructure facilities conducive to the growth of the industry.
The broad vision of the State in the Information Technology (IT) is to
• Improve the life of the common man leveraging the strengths of e-Governance
• Attract investment in the sector so that the educated youth is able to contribute to the development of the state
• Create a pool of highly skilled professionals who are at par with the best in the country.
• Transform Resource Based Economy to Knowledge Based Economy.



Salient Features
• The State would aim for employment opportunities for Four Hundred Thousand to One Million people in IT/ITES related activities.
• Providing information access to all citizens at an affordable cost and for achieving IT literacy in all the High Schools and Colleges by the year 2003 and aims to do so in all the schools by the year 2008.
• Computerization in Government departments and agencies must be the engine of growth of IT/ITES in Madhya Pradesh, in the initial period.
• A targeted share of 10% of the national IT output by the time frame indicated earlier, i.e. the year 2008 would be in the region of approx. Rs.42000/- crore and would require a direct private sector investment of the order of Rs. 4500/- crore approx.
• The State goal of achieving a 10% share in the national output would translate to roughly one-third of the State Domestic Product (SDP) being contributed by IT.

Operative features
The industry grew in Tier I cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Delhi. Due to congestion and infrastructural problems the Industry has started looking at Tier II cities such as Pune, Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar and Nagpur for expanding operation and reducing cost. The State can capitalise on this development and promote investment in Indore, Gwalior, Bhopal and Jabalpur. To attract IT/ITES industry and development of Private IT parks the government has drawn up the an action plan. Under this, software, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) and Computer Hardware, will qualify as Information Technology (IT) Industry.
Large chunks of land (Preferably more than 100 acres) near the Airports of the above 4 cities will be earmarked by the State for software technology parks. Composite townships with food courts, hospital, shopping mall, residential complex, schools, five star hotel, and other entertainment facilities for the software professionals will be allowed in these areas.
The Stale Government or its agencies will not undertake the construction of IT parks on their own. Suitable private sector infrastructure development agencies will be identified who will undertake the development, marketing and management of the park. The State or its agency will only be a facilitator or a minority partner in the Special Purpose Vehicle.
The government will facilitate acquisition of private land in accordance with land acquisition act for development of IT parks by leading and reputed private sector companies who posses experience of making sizable IT parks in the-country.



Proposed incentives include
• All incentives provided under the Industrial Policy shall be applicable to the ITES Industries established on government allotted land / private land with a provision of single window processing/clearances for all government formalities.
• The Government shall reimburse prospectively, 30 percent of the cost incurred by an IT/ITES Company on securing quality certification of Capability Maturity Model (CMM/ CMMi) Peoples Capability Maturity Model (PCMM) level 3 and above, subject to a maximum ceiling of 4 lakhs. This incentive will be available only once to the applicant company.
• Exemptions up-lo 100% in existing FAR for entire STP premises.
• Stamp duly payable on mortgage / hypothecation with banks/ financial institutions will be exempted.
• Stamp duty and registration fee Exemption will be applicable on Sale/lease by Financial Institution / Government Agencies/ Pvt. Sector who acquire space/ premises in IT parks for subsequent lease to IT/ITES units.
• Rate of property tax in the IT parky will be at par with residential premises.
• No prior permission will be required for installation of captive power plant.
• Rebate in Cost of Land is being included as one of the major incentives far attracting investments in the slate. IT/ITES Companies establishing the facilities can avail rebate in the cost of land linked to employment. IT/ITES Industry shall be provided power through a dedicated feeder.. JO. Exemption from factories act, maternity act, contract labour act, payment of wages act, minimum wages act, ESI act.
• Exemption from electricity duty tax, entry tax and work contract tax.
• IT/ITES units in Government approved IT parks will be exempted from payment of Octroi, Entry Tax and Local Bodies tax for all capital goods and raw material purchased by them.
• Companies establishing IT and ITES industries in the state shall be entitled to Special Economic Zone (SEZ) status under the Central Government provisions.
• Companies providing employment to more than 250 people in the state will get preference of 10 % marks in the prequalification stage of the bidding process of IT procurement.



IT/ITES EDUCATION
Madhya Pradesh has been able to turn out a large number of graduate engineers in IT/ITES and Computer Sciences. Presently the state has more than 60 engineering colleges. These graduates are not able to fulfil the needs of the industry. There is a need to upgrade their skills and make the manpower compatible with the industry requirement. The present government schooling system is not producing manpower, which can fulfil the requirement of BPO and ITES. NASSCOM, in consultation with leading IT/ITES consultant, KPMG, has published a report that predicts pattern of IT/ITES manpower requirement in the next five years. It is indicated that these two sectors will be requiring 2.1 Million people. This sector requires Key Board skills, Internet Browsing skills, ability to work on office packages, data entry and knowledge of the laws of the client country and their procedures in delivery of services would be helpful in getting a job. In view of the description given above, the following is proposed to be undertaken during the Policy implementation period:-
• Selected 500 government schools (if resources permit another 500 schools) will be provided modern computing hardware, software and Internet connectivity. These centres will produce students equipped for taking jobs in the BPO/ITES sectors. Department of IT will prepare course curriculum to be taught in these schools. The School Education Department will make teaching computers and technology compulsory in these schools.
• To improve the standard of IT/ITES education in the Engineering Colleges and Government Collages to make our graduates employable, centres of excellence will be established in all Government Engineering Colleges and selected Government Colleges. The State would invite large reputed companies to teach technology and provide their certification in these centres.
• A Centre Jor E-governance will be established in Bhopal, which will allow engineering graduates from the IT/ITES field to work on live E-governance projects. These centres will be based on a spectrum of technologies that would include proprietary as well as open source. Some noted IT/ITES professionals would man these centres. Department of IT will submit a Detailed Project Report [DPR] within six months from the announcement of the Policy.
• Common Infrastructure: Common infrastructure such as State Wide Area Network [SWAN], Natural Resource Management [CIS based], Data Centre, Disaster Recovery Sites and Inter Operability Standards are required so that all the departments are able to utilize these services without bothering about the maintenance of these complex facilities. In this regard, the following action will be taken:-
• SWAN is being built by funding support from the Government of India. It shall be fully operational by June 2006. The Bandwidth cost of maintaining this infrastructure has to be borne by the state government. All departments will be encouraged to shift from their existing nehvorks to the SWAN and development of any new SWAN will not be allowed in future.
• GIS based Natural Resource Management System (NRMS): MAP IT will develop a slate of the art CIS lab for departments that use maps for managing natural resources. Officers brought on deputation to MAP _IT will man this lab. After this lab is established Departments will not incur expenditure on GIS. The facility will be web-enabled and the IT Department will be provided budget for the maintenance of the lab.
• Data centre and Disaster Recovery: Govt. of Madhya Pradesh is actively evaluating the possibility of hosting all departmental IT infrastructures at a Central professionally managed data centre. This Data Centre is likely to be setup in Bhopal. The Disaster Recovery site is being planned in Gwalior. I-'unds will be mobilised from the Mission Mode Projects, e-governance projects and externally aided projects. The funds will be transferred to the Madhya Pradesh State Electronics Development Corporation [MPSEDC] which will manage the facility on behalf of the State Government.
• Inter Operability Standards will be developed by MAP_IT with inputs from Ministry of Information Technology' Government of India, global best practices
• and leading technology consultants. All the departments will compulsorily adhere to these standards.
• Administrative Measures: - A cabinet committee will be created for ensuring successful implementation of the policy. The Cabinet Committee will form its own rules and procedures for carrying out its business. It will meet every 3 months.