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The Andhra Pradesh government today announced a new Information Technology (IT) industry policy incorporating a variety of monetary incentives for companies that would set up operations apart from proposing new IT corridors and zones in public-private partnership (PPP) in the state.
To create basic infrastructure for the sector, the government would promote the development of a mega IT hub at Visakhapatnam and IT hubs at Vijayawada, Kakinada, Tirupati and Anantapur with walk-to-work, cycle-to-work concepts. These facilities, in the form of IT towers, IT parks and IT zones, will be developed in a transparent PPP mode, the government said.
Apart from these parks, the government also proposes an IT investment region (ITIR) in Visakhapatnam and Tirupati initially and in a later phase it proposes to extend for the Tirupati-Anantapur corridor.
It has announced separate incentive structure for mega and small companies in addition to common incentives such as 25 per cent reimbursement in electricity charges, reimbursement of stamp duty and registration fee among other things.
A 10 per cent capital subsidy will be given to companies setting up operations in mega IT parks and for those functioning from a rented space a rental subsidy at the rate of Rs 10 per sft will be extended. For MSMEs, the government proposes to provide 50 per cent subsidy on rentals for a period of three years apart from a recruitment/training assistance of Rs 20,000 for every IT professional they hire.
The policy, which will be applicable for a five-year period from 2014-2020, envisages a rebate on the cost of the land allotted to a company at the rate of Rs 60,000 per employee hired by it in a Mega IT park (potential to create 5,000 jobs). In other IT projects, a rebate of Rs 40,000 per employee will be given to companies against every employee it hires. Additional incentives would be offered to SC and ST entrepreneurs and women.
The government will provide Rs 500 crore to implement the policy in the annual budget for this year, IT minister Palle Raghunatha Reddy said.
