Gujarat govt decides to revise IT Policy

Better late than never seems to be the refrain for Gujarat government. To catch the IT bus the state government has decided to revise its existing Information Technology (IT) Policy.

To encourage potential investors in IT sector, the government has decided to make the policy more lucrative with new sops.

The government would also focus on bringing in investment in the agri industries sector by introducing the Agri Industries Policy.

On Sunday, Chief Secretary, P K Laheri indicated that revision also might be carried out in some of the existing policies related to other sectors including port and roads sector.

Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, said that during the Global Investors' Summit (GIS), slated to take place during January 11-14, his government's focus would be on new investments in IT sector and 'conduct an intensive follow-up of investment commitments made by investors' during the last summit'.

"This time the summit will focus on bringing in new investments We hope the chieftains of all the industries will attend the summit this time too," Modi told Business Standard on Sunday.

Despite the ongoing political debates over the star witness in the Best Bakery massacre turning hostile, and the reported negative remarks of about its handling of post-Godhra riots, Modi sounded confident about the 'investor-friendly' atmosphere in Gujarat.

The state government, after the last summit, had said that the industries had committed investments worth Rs 53,000 crore of Rs 66,000 crore. But this claim has been opposed by the opposition.

Reacting to the opposition, Modi said: "One has to judge which is true and which is wrong as some people have been trying to give a wrong impression about the state."

Despite oppositions from several quarters, the government is taking heart from that fact that its IT venture, the Info City has caught the imagination of the industry. Recently IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) had opened its centre here. And many are seen following suit.

Laheri said, "We expect further investments to come in IT sector from the biggies and to encourage more investments in IT sector, we are going to revise the existing IT Policy which was introduced few years ago."

Managing director of Gujarat Informatics Ltd and principal secretary, Anil Mukim, also believes that a revision of the existing IT Policy might help Gujarat gain a place in the country's IT investment map.

"We are even trying to sort out issues such as manpower scarcity for this industry with the help of various educational institutions. The revised Policy would definitely boost investment in this sector. We expect to make the revised IT Policy public before the ensuing Summit."