IT is looking up: Naveen

BHUBANESWAR: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday said growth rate of information technology (IT) product exports from the state is on the rise.
IT product export touched Rs 2,000 crore in 2013-14, an increase of 23.4% over that in the previous fiscal year. In 2012-13, the state exported IT products worth Rs 1,705 crore, official sources said.
Inaugurating a new block of IT major Tech Mahindra here, Naveen said growth of IT sector in the state is the top priority of the government.The additional block will add 615 seats, creating direct employment for as many professionals, company sources said. The existing capacity is 600.
Naveen informed the state government is going to spend Rs 5,000 crore annually in next five years towards development of IT services in government departments.
The CM informed the government has decided to make the entire city Wi-Fi enabled. The Software Technology Park of India has been engaged as a consultant for the Wi-Fi project.
According to information communication technology (ICT) policy, implemented by the state government, every department will earmark 2% of their annual plan budget or 1% of their overall budget, whichever is higher, for IT spending so as to provide services through electronic mode.
Under the ICT policy, government aims at achieving a gross IT turnover of $ 4 billion and giving direct employment to 60,000 IT professionals by 2020.
Naveen said Odisha has seen a tremendous growth in development of IT industries in the past decade. “In order to promote such industries, IT special economic zones are established at Info City and Info Valley here,” he said.
The state government is also setting up a greenfield electronics manufacturing cluster in the Info Valley, the CM said.
To attract foreign investment under IT and electronic sectors, the state has signed an MoU with US-based IT hub Silicon Valley