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In
an attempt to give a fillip to the sagging IT industry, the
state government recently announced a host of incentives for
IT and IT-enabled services industries. The announcement followed
an important decision taken in a cabinet meeting to bring
in the Right to Information Bill.
As part of the incentives, a special land price policy will
be applied to IT projects involving investments of over Rs
50 crore in the Hyderabad Information Technology Engineering
Consultancy City (HiTec City) layout. Under this policy, land
will be offered at the rate of Rs 50 lakh per acre. Further,
an employment-related rebate of Rs 20,000 per job created
will be deductible from the cost of land.
The Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC)
and L&T, who are jointly developing HiTec City will limit
the cost of development to Rs 30 lakh per acre in order to
restrict the cost to IT companies.
State information minister S Chandramohan Reddy announced
that the cabinet had also approved a new policy for IT-enabled
services (ITES). The ITES industry is believed to have a potential
to create employment for three to four lakh persons by 2010.
According to the policy, a virtual training centre for ITES
would be set up and a separate agency created to facilitate
investments in this sector. The employment-related rebate
on cost of land at Rs 20,000 per job created would be extended
to ITES companies too, for land given by the government.
A cabinet sub-committee comprising ministers for law, information
& public relations and finance has been set up to prepare
the draft bill on the right of information.
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