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TS IT Policy in Two Months, Aims to Double Exports in 5 Years

By: V. V. Balakrishna

The much-awaited Information Technology (IT) policy of Telangana state will be announced within a couple of months. “We are giving finishing touches to the policy and it will be announced within two months,” sources within IT department told Wednesday.

The focus of the new IT policy will be initiatives to attract more investments in Information Technology (IT) and ITeS (IT enabled services). The state government has drawn an ambitious plan to develop Hyderabad as a global destination for the IT services.

The Telangana government is aiming to promote IT exports so that the revenue from IT sector can be raised to `1.2 lakh crore from the present `60,000 crore in the next five years.

According to sources, chief secretary Rajiv Sharma has suggested to include e-Governance in the policy. “We are making changes as directed by the chief secretary,” an official said.

The existing IT policy of the state was prepared by united Andhra government in 2010 for five years. Though, the policy period is over, the government decided to continue with the policy till the new policy is prepared. The new IT policy will be in force from 2015 to 2020.

The IT department has already prepared a draft policy in consultation with the IT industry. The government had sought suggestions and recommendations from all the stakeholders of the industry.

The government has launched a major initiative to make Hyderabad a WiFi-enabled city so that it could open up business avenues in IT and improve revenue from the sector. Besides, the focus will be on providing employment, especially to Telangana youth.

Currently, the IT sector in Hyderabad provides employment to nearly 3.25 lakh people. There are around 1,400 IT companies functioning in the city. The government also envisages to spread the IT industry to tier II cities like Karimnagar and Warangal.

Every year around 50,000 to 60,000 students are graduating from engineering colleges in the state and to provide job to all of them is an uphill task. The government is also planning to make the Pearl City as complete 4G enabled city.

Source: The New Indian Express

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