Bhubaneswar, December11: In order to ensure inclusive growth and employment in the State, the Odisha Government would spend Rs 5,000 crore in next five years towards IT/ITES/ESDM (Information Technology/Information Technology Enabled Services/Electronic System Design and Manufacturing).
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik while inaugurating the new IT block of Tech-Mahindra adding to the existing block that houses 500 associates here said, “The IT Sector today is at the top of the State Government’s agenda, and Odisha has been in forefront of the IT revolution in our country. The State Govt is going to spend around Rs 5000 crore from the State budget in next five years towards IT/ ITES and ESDM. To start with, the State Govt has decided to make the entire Bhubaneswar City WiFi enabled and for that, the STPI, Bhubaneswar has been engaged as a Consultant.”
“The growth rate of IT exports from the State is more than the national growth rate for last several years while there is a tremendous growth of IT industries both large and SMEs at Bhubaneswar in the past decade. In order to promote such industries, IT Special Economic Zones are established at Info-city and Info-valley in Bhubaneswar. The State Government is also setting up a green field Electronics Manufacturing Cluster within Info-valley.
“Under the State Government’s new industry friendly ICT Policy-2014, where we strive to make Odisha the preferred IT destination for IT/ITES/ESDM has many ambitious objectives including a target to achieve a gross ICT turnover of four billion US dollars, direct employment of 60 thousand IT professionals, attract 10 leading IT/ITES and five leading ESDM companies to the State, create a built-up space of six million square feet and develop a land bank of 2,000 acres by 2020.
Stating that Odisha is the first State in the country to sign a MoU with TiE, Silicon Valley, USA to attract foreign investment under ESDM sector in the EMC, Patnaik said the Government has put in place a new industry friendly ICT Policy-2014, where it strive to make Odisha the preferred IT destination for IT/ITES/ESDM.Among others, IT Minister Pranab Prakash Das, Tourism and Culture Minister Ashok Panda, local MP Prasanna Patsani, MLAs Priyadarshi Mishra, Bijay Mohanty, BMC Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena, Chief Secretary GC Pati, Tech Mahindra MD and CEO CP Gurnani attended.