Gujarat IT industry elated over new policy

The new IT policy of Gujarat, envisaging an annual turnover of Rs 5,000 crore from the IT sector, has given a fresh lease of life to the Gujarat Electronics and Software Industries Association (GESIA), as more and more major IT and electronics players are evincing interest in joining the association in order to get a say in the policy matters of the state.

"With the government holding meetings with GESIA on policy matters regarding the IT and electronics industry, including the drafting of the IT policy, the number of companies wanting to join the association has gone up significantly. After the IT slump in 2001, the association had almost died down, but now we have already had a turnaround with 50 new members signing up this year," said J C Kochar, president, GESIA.

The benefit that the members of the association would get, according to Kochar, is access to important policy formulations of the state. A member company would also get an insight into the future trends in the industry, he said.

The association, which recently opened a placement desk for serving its members in the field of technology and human resource management, is currently working with the government to help formulate policies on attracting investments as part of the 'Vibrant Gujarat' initiative of the state.

The association is also hoping to attract investors for the programmes that it is planning to hold in the next few months, including workshops on the new IT policy.

Ever since it was announced on November 1, the new IT policy has drawn mixed reactions from industry watchers. Chirag Mehta, convener, CII-Gujarat ICT Panel, felt that measures like promotion of urban IT infrastructure by relaxing FSI and zoning guidelines for IT parks would go a long way in developing the IT sector in the state.

Similarly, Pratul Shroff, CEO, Infochips, opined: "One of the critical requirements for the IT industry is trained manpower. The new IT policy has measures to address the issues in this arena, which is very heartening."

However, the new policy has received its share of criticism too. The CII has come down hard on the policy as it does not consider internet service providers (ISP) as part of the IT industry by definition.

Some members of GESIA also feel that the policy focuses only on attracting new investment and it hardly addresses the interests of those who have already invested in the sector. The policy has nothing to offer to small and medium players in the field, they opined.