Panchkula to get software technology park

CHANDIGARH: Decks have been cleared for building a Software Technology Park of India (STPI) centre in Panchkula.

The Haryana government has decided to transfer more than 8,049 square metres of space in the town to the Noida-based STPI society for this centre. The land will be almost free, for a token lease money of a rupee for each of the 99 years. Haryana State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (Hartron) and the STPI will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for this purpose.

A decision to this effect came at a meeting of the state cabinet, where Haryana chief minister Mahohar Lal led the proceedings. Panchkula has the potential to attract information technology industry because of its proximity to the technical institutions, universities, and software park of Chandigarh and Mohali. Chandigarh is a smart city with good law and order, healthy climate, and high accessibility because of international airport and the national highway. Besides, a railway route passes through Panchkula.

The STPI will create IT-office space, high-speed data connectivity, data centre, and other amenities required for exporting software and professional services. The incubation facility will include the STPI office, network operation centre, finishing school, plug ’n’ play, and raw incubation space. The STPI incubator will be a centralised facility for startups to give relevant ecosystem for growth to budding companies, from mentoring to funding. The startups will have access to latest infrastructure and necessary support.

This site in Sector 22 of Panchkula’s IT Park was purchased from Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) for about Rs 14.91 crore. The Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) is an autonomous society under the department of electronics and information technology of the ministry of communication and information technology. Its objective is to promote software exports.

The STPI operates two central government schemes—Software Technology Park (STP) and Electronics Hardware Technology Park (EHTP)—and offers incubation and data communication facilities under one umbrella to the IT units to facilitate export-oriented activity.