The Maharashtra government, with an aim to make Mumbai and Navi as data centre hub, has announced certain incentives for setting up an data centre. The announcement was part of a newly approved IT Support Services Policy of the government that is aimed at bringing investment worth Rs 95,000 crore and generate 35 lakh jobs in the state.
The government in the policy said it intends to make Mumbai and Navi Mumbai as data centre hub, and with this aim it plans to offer incentives such as stamp duty waiver, electricity duty waiver, electricity tariff subsidy, permission to use electricity through open access and essential service status.
According to state government officials, the government is keen to promote data centres in the state and intends to develop the zone 1 cities especially Mumbai and Navi Mumbai as data centres hubs.
The policy also offers several relaxations when it comes to granting of floor space index (FSI) for coming up with IT, industrial parks and data centres in the state. Under the new policy, essential services status will be granted to IT and ITeS units and they will be permitted to work 24x7on 365 days without any close down.
The policy also offers 50 to 100 percent subsidy in stamp duty, waiving off electricity charges from 10 to 15 years, power supply on industrial rates among other sops and benefits to the IT industry, waiver in property tax etc. The state cabinet cleared the new IT and ITES Policy on May 30, citing it will attract an investment of Rs 95,000 crore, 3.5 million jobs and export of Rs 1 lakh crore.
Under the new IT policy, the state government has also announced coming up with a single window technology portal for attracting investments. The portal, named MAHITI - a Marathi word that means information in English - will be looking after registration and clearances of the all proposals. The Maharashtra government was among the first few states to have its IT policy in the late 1990's, which was updated in 2015, and now in 2023.