'UP will have four IT hubs'

The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to establish four IT hubs in the state, one planned each in Kanpur, Lucknow-Kanpur Road, Agra and Ghaziabad-Hapur Road.

This was stated by Rajendra Singh Rana, Information Technology minister, UP, in a seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Lucknow.

"The UP government is committed towards the development of small and medium scale enterprises," said Rana. "The government is determined to extend support in whichever way possible," he added.

Also present on the occasion, Govindan Nair, principal secretary (SSI and Export Promotion), UP, stressed on the importance of technological innovations within the small scale enterprises (SMEs).

"To survive and grow, the SMEs not only need to compete with countries within India but also with those abroad and should look at the feasibility of applying technology-driven processes to achieve economies of scale," he said.

"The need for the SMEs is to invest in technology without which their growth will be limited," said Jayant Krishna, regional manager, Tata Consultancy Services, Lucknow.

At the "Software Applications" session, Anupam Kumar, business manager, RAMCO Systems, gave a detailed account of various solutions on offer by his company and explained how these solutions can be implemented within the SMEs as per their specific needs and requirements.

While Milind Kulkarni, manager (Business Development), Automations and Drives Division, SIEMENS India, speaking at the technical session on "Automation and Instrumentation" explained how automation tools and equipments could be applied at the assembly line, to ensure quality and productivity in an enterprise.

He introduced the concept of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Industrial Vision Sensors as the fast emerging technologies that are slated to drive industrial automation in the near future.

"What is needed is a solution that is reliable and workable," said Ved Krishna, convener (SME Panel), CII, UP State Council and Managing Director, Yash Papers Ltd, in his remarks.

He also recommended the use of tried and tested technologies and cautioned that technology alone could not be the sole factor for enhancing the competitiveness of an enterprise but at the same time it could not be ignored.

The seminar was attended by industry representatives from Lucknow, Kanpur, Faizabad, Saharanpur and other industrial belts of Uttar Pradesh.