IT Hubs

The Government has taken various initiatives to promote Information Technology (IT)/ IT enabled Services (ITeS) industry across the country, including small cities. Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), an autonomous society under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), is instrumental in taking digital technologies across the country to drive the initiatives of the Government to the smaller towns.

Till date, 63 STPI centres have been set-up across the country, including five centres namely Durgapur, Haldia, Kharagpur, Kolkata and Siliguri in West Bengal and one at Patna in Bihar. Additionally, the Government has also approved 22 new STPI centres across the country, including two centres in Bihar at Bhagalpur and Darbhanga. State/UT-wise list of existing and approved STPI Centres given below:

Sate-wise list of existing STPI Centres

State-wise list of approved new STPI Centres

It has been endeavour of the Government to put in place a liberal and transparent policy for attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), wherein most of the sectors are open to FDI under the automatic route. As per extant Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy, 100 per cent FDI is allowed in IT sector under automatic route (except the land border sharing country with India) subject to applicable laws/regulations, security and other conditions. A total of Rs 3,56,303 crore FDI has been committed in Computer Software and Hardware during FY 2019-2022 and Rs 63,819 crore in the current FY 2022-2023 (till Dec, 2022).

The Government is implementing Software Technology parks of India (STP) Scheme through STPI, which is a 100 per cent export-oriented Scheme for the development and export of computer software, including export of professional services using communication links or physical media. The export by STPI registered IT/ ITeS Units is increasing on Y-o-Y basis and is stands at US $ 80.3 Billion in the FY 2021-22.

Further, National Policy on Software Products (NPSP) – 2019 has been notified by the Government to promote software product ecosystem in the country. In accordance with NPSP, the Government has approved the Next Generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS) with a budgetary outlay of Rs 95.03 crore to extend incubation facilities to tech start-ups in 12 STPI centres located in small cities including one incubation facility at Patna in Bihar.

The Government had also launched India BPO Promotion Scheme (IBPS) & North-East BPO Promotion Scheme (NEBPS) under the Digital India Programme with the aim to create employment opportunities and dispersal of IT/ITeS industry in small cities/towns by incentivise setting up of BPO/ITeS operations. The duration of IBPS and NEBPS was up to 31.03.2019 & 31.03.2020 respectively to invite new bids, however, disbursements may continue beyond this period. Under these schemes 246 units have set up BPO/ITeS operations across 27 States/UTs of the country providing direct employment to 52,065 persons.   

Further, Union Government has announced GENESIS (Gen-Next Support for Innovative Startups) to discover, support, grow and make successful startups in small cities with emphasis on collaborative engagement among startups, government and corporates for promoting digitisation based on the principals of inclusivity, accessibility, affordability, leading to growth in employment and economic outputs.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

*****

RKJ/DK