Naveen inaugurates new IT block of Tech Mahindra

Odisha Channel Bureau Bhubaneswar, Dec 11: Odisha Government has put in place a new industry friendly ICT Policy-2014, where it strives to make the State the preferred IT destination for IT/ITES/ESDM, said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here today.Inaugurating the new IT block of Tech Mahindra in the city, Patnaik 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.Synchronizing the vision for an all-round development and growth of IT exports, the State Government has taken a range of initiatives to accomplish this mission, he said.The Chief Minister said the growth rate of IT exports from the State is more than the national growth rate for last several years.There is a tremendous growth of IT industries both large and SMEs at Bhubaneswar in the past decade, he added.Patnaik further said that Bhubaneswar has equally made good progress in IT SEZ Sector too.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.Further, Odisha is the first State in the country which has signed an MOU with TiE, Silicon Valley, USA to attract foreign investment under ESDM sector in the EMC.The new industry friendly ICT Policy-2014, he said, has many ambitious objectives including a target to achieve a gross ICT turnover of 4 billion US dollars, direct employment of 60 thousand IT professionals, attract 10 leading IT/ITES & 5 leading ESDM companies to the State, create a built-up space of six million square feet and develop a land bank of 2000 acres by 2020.Further, as per the ICT Policy, every Government department will now earmark two percent of their Annual Plan Budget or one percent of their overall budget, whichever is higher, for IT spending so as to provide services through electronic mode, Patnaik said.By this process, the State Government is going to spend around Rs.5,000 crore from the State budget in next five years towards IT/ ITES and ESDM, the Chief Minister said.To start with, the State Government has decided to make the entire Bhubaneswar City WiFi enabled and for that, the STPI, Bhubaneswar has been engaged as a consultant.Patnaik stated that Odisha is also one of the leading States in the country in the field of e-Governance.A number of e-Governance initiatives have been taken up by various Departments in the last decade.Several citizen-centric services are being delivered online through Common Service Centres under various e-Gov projects like e-District, e-Registration, e-Commercial Tax, IOTMS, I3MS, e-Municipality, OSWAS and many more.The Students Academic Management System, a unique initiative for centralized e-admission to all junior and degree colleges of the State, has won the prestigious National e-Governance Award in 2013.He expressed happiness that Tech Mahindra is adding a new block to its existing Centre which will add 615 seats, thereby providing additional 615 direct employment opportunity in the State.“I was informed that Tech Mahindra is currently operating in Bhubaneswar with 600 IT professionals working for global customers across the IT value chain from consulting to support services,” Patnaik observed.