Punjab’s new IT policy on anvil

Punjab Government has given in principle approval to its new ‘IT Policy’ for the State.

Announcing this, the state IT and PWD Minister Vijay Inder Singla said: “After having notified the New Industrial and Business Development Policy- 2017, process is on to cater to the sector specific nuances and soon a new IT Policy would be framed in order to cater to the requirements of Information Technology Sector.”

Singla, during an interaction with the industrialists or entrepreneurs from the IT or IT enabled Services (ITeS) and electronics industry at Software Technology Park of India (STPI) in Mohali, said that the move is aimed at a developing a holistic framework for sustainable information technology sector growth in the State.

“A special IT task force would also be formed in the State to chalk out a roadmap to develop Mohali as the best IT destination amongst the tier-II cities in the country…And this special task force would be headed by an eminent IT person of national repute,” he said.

Singla said that the special task force would suggest ways and means to attract major IT players to Mohali. “Despite an ideal pro IT ecosystem in place, Mohali has not been able to attract big players which reflects that there is some disconnect between the industry and the department, so this disconnect would be redressed at the earliest and earnest efforts would be taken to develop Mohali as an IT hub par excellence,” said Singla.

He said that the task force would give suggestions which in turn would be implemented by the Information Technology department in a stipulated timeframe. An idea to appoint a ‘Chief Innovation Officer’ from corporate background would also be explored, he added.

The Minister said that to promote IT industry, the government has also given in principle approval to provide power at Rs five per unit in line with the provision of power to other industries. Anomalies in the process are being removed and soon, power would be provided to the IT industry at cheaper rates, he said.

Along with facilitating the big IT units to come up in Mohali, the Department is also making sincere efforts to boost the startups and government has made a Rs 20 crore provision for the same, he said while assuring that the Department will establish a greater connect with prospective units in order to understand the requirements and support and facilitate their growth.