Punjab approves power at Rs 5 per unit for IT industry

MOHALI: In bid to promote IT industry, the Punjab government has accorded its approval to provide cheap power. The state’s information technology minister Vijay Inder Singla, who was part of the IT and

Electronics Industry Meet

organised at STPI Incubation Centre here on Wednesday, said that the government has agreed to provide electricity to the industry at Rs 5 per unit. Meanwhile, the state IT department also signed MoUs worth Rs 77 crore with 15 startups.


Meanwhile, the state’s IT minister announced framing of new IT policy for Punjab, which would fill the existing policy gaps. Along with facilitating the big IT units to come up in Mohali, department is also making sincere efforts to boost the startups. “A provision of Rs 20 crore has been made for the same,” Singla said and assured that the department will establish a greater connect with prospective units in order to understand the requirements and support and facilitate their growth.

Talking about the trends, challenges and opportunities on the path of making Mohali the next big IT hub, Verma said that a 40,000 sq ft incubation centre ‘Punjab Start-up’ is being set up at STPI, Mohali, in collaboration with Indian School of Business (ISB) and

Punjab Technical University

.

The Congress during Punjab assembly elections had promised to provide cheaper power to industrial units. The state government recently issued an order to bring down the power tariff to Rs 5 per unit. However, this was only for manufacturing sector. Principal secretary industries and commerce, Punjab, R K Verma had assured to provide power subsidy to IT firms at the TOI’s CEO Roundtable on Startup Ecosystem, which was held on April 4, 2018.