OM Bureau
Bhubaneswar:
Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) will set up a center at Berhampur in the district of Ganjam following an understanding it has reached with Government of Orissa.
The Secretary of Information Technology department of Government of Orissa and Director General, STPI, have signed the MOU in this respect on July 01, 05 at Bhubaneswar.
When Government of Orissa will release Rupees one crore as grant-in-aid besides providing 3 acres of developed land and 10,000 sft built up space for the Park, Government of India will contribute Rs.5 crore by way of computing and networking infrastructure.
The STP scheme bundles together the benefits of 100% Export Oriented Unit (EOU) and Export Processing Zone (EPZ) schemes of the Government of India. It envisages single window clearance mechanism, up to 100% foreign equity participation, Income Tax holiday and duty free imports to the units registered under the scheme.
STPI successfully operates 44 centers across the country.
The Berhampur Centre shall open up facilities like high-speed data communication, technology incubation services, training and consultancy, Internet & Video Conferencing that will go a long way in attracting investments in IT to this region. It will provide a conducive environment to encourage and promote local entrepreneurship besides taking care of all statutory needs of the software exporting industries like project approval, import approval, bonding and export certification.
The data communication facility integrated with point-to-point microwave, copper and fiber channels will ensure 100% uninterrupted data connectivity and bandwidth on demand to the users. The incubation infrastructure is aimed at providing ready to occupy plug and play space at an affordable cost to the small scale entrepreneurs motivating them to experiment and nurture innovative ideas transforming those to commercial realities. The STPI center will also maintain internal engineering resources to provide consultancy services in networking, web hosting, server and security management.
According to official version, more than 90% of the total national software export of Rs. 51,458 crore came from 4,000 STPI registered units in 2003-2004. In Orissa, at present more than 100 IT units are registered with STPIs at Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. The software and professional services export from Orissa at Rs.383 crore in 2004-05 has registered a growth rate of 20% over the previous year. (The report carries official version)