Wednesday, August 13, 2014: An official announcement has been made by the Andhra Pradesh government regarding IT Promotion Policy for 2014-2020. The state government has proposed objectives and targets for next five years as they aim to turn the city into a ‘Silicon Corridor of India’. All these proposals have been detailed in the blueprint for IT, Electronics & e-Governance 2014.
The new policy has been designed in a way so that AP becomes the leading state in providing e-services and also aims to attract more investments, up to US $2 billion in IT and US $5 billion in electronics manufacturing. The state will create direct employment for 5 lakh people, all villages will access Gigabit and at least one person in every household will go through e-learning process. A set of 18 policies have been discussed in the blueprint.
A change in curriculum will be advised for universities so that learners receive enough knowledge about emerging technologies and they will be trained in such a way so that they meet industry’s requirements and develop entrepreneurship. Premier IT institutes will be launched in collaboration with IT companies and foreign universities and these institutes will gain support from the state government. Undergraduate courses in software engineering, electronics and computer sciences will mandatorily provide internship in the fourth year of the course to provide practical knowledge of the industry.
The government will try its best set up an infrastructure in alignment with the IT/ITES industry. A mega IT hub will be set up in Visakhapatnam and a signature tower of 1 million square feet will be set up at the centre of the hub. IT hubs will also be created at various locations like Vijayawada, Kakinada, Tirupati and Anantapur. Facilities like IT towers, parks and zones will be developed in the hubs through public-private partnership.