Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, Jun 03, 2006
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, Jun 03, 2006 |
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Hardware Info-Tech - Infrastructure Draft policy for sops to semiconductor sector soon Our Bureau
CYBER FUTURE: (From right) The Union Minister for Communications and IT, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, the Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr H.D. Kumaraswamy, and the Infosys Chief Mentor, Mr N.R. Narayana Murthy, in Bangalore on Friday. — G.R.N. Somashekar
Bangalore , June 2 The Communications and IT Minister, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, said it was a "matter of weeks" for the draft policy proposing incentives for the semiconductor industry to be out. Speaking at the inauguration of a new campus of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) here on Friday, he said it was in the final stages of preparation. The policy will cover various aspects related to the industry such as fabs, assembly and testing units, solar cells, flat panel displays and storage devices. "This, along with a proactive and industry-friendly hardware policy, will make the Indian electronics/hardware manufacturing industry globally competitive and ensure more inflow of investment, including FDI, into this sector," he said.
On SEZ stipulation
Mr Maran also said the land area stipulation for IT-specific SEZs could be "done away with". He said, "To ensure that the IT sector, especially small and medium enterprises (SME) get the maximum benefit, we have proposed that the land area stipulation for setting up product-specific SEZs should be done away with." Concurring with him, Mr M.M. Nambiar, Additional Secretary, IT Department, Government of India, noted, "Almost 41 per cent of exports are from the SME sector." According to the current policy, a minimum land of 1,000 hectares is needed to set up an SEZ.
Incubation centre
STPI announced the setting up of Orchid TechScape, an incubation centre for entrepreneurs. TiE Entrepreneurship Acceleration program and India Semiconductor Association will be playing an active role in incubating companies at the Orchid TechScape. To encourage entrepreneurs, funds are being organised both at Central and State levels. "We are planning to create a seed capital fund so that start-ups will get financial support while they get incubated," said Mr Maran. Parallel to this, Mr H.D. Kumaraswamy, Chief Minister, Karnataka, announced that the KITVEN fund was exhausted and another venture fund would be set up soon. This would have a higher outlay, he said, and would provide venture capital for both IT and BT industries.
Taking IT to the masses
Software tools and fonts for Indian languages in the public domain would ensure penetration of IT-enabled services to the masses. Right now, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu were released, and tools for Punjabi and Urdu were ready, Mr Maran announced. He added that 17 other Indian languages would be covered by next year. Mr Nambiar also noted the importance of ICT access at "grass roots level", and that several e-governance programs were ready to roll out. He added that 1 lakh centres for e-governance were being set up in a national endeavour. The DoT is giving secondary cities a special thrust. It is also intent on promoting the product development space, he announced. Mr Kumaraswamy said tier 2 and tier 3 cities such as Mangalore, Gulbarga, Mysore and Hubli would be developed to avoid pressure on Bangalore.
Bangalore — a magnet
Calling the city a "magnet" to IT companies, with over 200 companies starting operations during 2005-06, Mr Kumaraswamy announced the infrastructure problem would be given priority. "Good infrastructure is needed not only for the IT and BT industry, but also for the common man to whom the Government is responsible," he added.
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