IT Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah on Saturday declared that the government is planning to construct an Information Technology (IT) tower in the Ranga Reddy district.
The Kiran Kumar Reddy government is planning to construct an Information Technology (IT) tower in the Ranga Reddy district to cater to the future requirements of the IT sector.
Obviously, the said IT tower comes as a 'competitor' to the Hi-Tech city, built by the IT-savvy former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who had laid a powerful foundation for IT as a modern growth engine for Hyderabad.
Also, earlier, the IT growth was confined to Madhapur, Gachibowli and Nanakramguda, now known as Cyberabad. IT Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah explained that the Kiran Kumar Reddy government has spread the IT activities to all over Hyderabad including Pocharam, Uppal, Shamshabad and Jawaharnagar.
All the 3 regions in the state will have 1 IT tower each, the Minister explained at the Secretariat on Saturday.
Aiming to generate employment, the government will give the IT companies located in the 2-tier locations including Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Vijayawada and Tirupati, additional incentives and facilities for expansion.
Hyderabad is, of course, the most important. The city has been ranked the 19th most-developed IT hub among the cities of the world by The New York Times. The ranking was based on the international airport's connectivity to Gachchibowli, Madhapur, Uppal and other areas which had been described as the IT hubs. The ranking was also based on the cosmopolitan culture of the city; the state-of-the-art technology, infrastructure and manpower available here; and the city's cost competitiveness.
Besides this, Hyderabad has been endorsed as one of the 41 "must-visit" cities in India.
But other cities in AP are picking up, too. Exports effected from Visakhapatnam were put at Rs. 786 crores (95 IT units), those from Vijayawada at Rs. 65 crores (37 IT units), Kakinada at Rs. 12 crores (22 units) and Tirupati at Rs. 3.5 crores (8 units). Efforts were on to set up 3 IT companies in Warangal, Lakshmaiah revealed.
Describing the IT potential for the state, the Minister said that the job generation in the IT sector boosts employment in the logistics, maintenance, infrastructure, tourism, hospitality and entertainment sectors.
The Minister had earlier released a book in Telugu called "IT Velugulu", which elaborates upon the initiatives that the government has taken to promote the IT sector and the growth of the SEZs.
Out of the IT SEZs, 43 have been notified, out of which 17 SEZs are operational, Lakshmaiah stated. As per the current status report on the 17 SEZs, as many as 94 IT units have been functional, and have employed over 48,000 personnel over the last 2 years, he informed.
He also stated that during the period 1996-2004, AP had stood at the 5th place in the country's IT sector, and contributed 7% share to the national exports and had a 5% share in the national IT employment, while during the period of 2005-2011, the state was ranked 4th in the IT sector and contributed 15% to the national exports and had a 12% share in the national IT employment. (INN)