Tuesday, July 01, 2014: In a move which can give equal focus to electronics and IT/ITES sectors, Gujarat state government has prepared two separate policies. Starting this July, government is planning two policies instead of one combined policy, as told by highly placed sources. This move comes after expiry of Gujarat’s IT policy in 2011 and the focus was then shifted to Lok Sabha elections.
After consulting the concerned industries, a draft has been prepared and sent to the government to be finalised on priority basis. It may bring joy of hope in Information and Communication Technology(ICT) as Centre announced standard operating procedures for electronic manufacturing in mainly eight cities under M-SIPS(Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme) which includes cities like Vadodara, Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. The state has started speeding up its efforts in the three greenfield electronic manufacturing clusters, which are to be set up at Sanand near Ahmedabad.
Confirming the news in a recent event of Gujarat Electronic & Software Industries Association(GESIA) awards, secretary of Department of Science and Technology, SJ Haider said, “In 2013, Gujarat’s IT industry had a turnover of about 999.33 Millions and export of nearly 166.55 Millions. The Gujarat government is dedicatedly promoting the right ecosystem for a vibrant IT and IT enabled services industry which is committed to this vision. As far as electronics are concerned, there are lot of brainstorming sessions going on with the stakeholders and landmark policy will be shortly declared.”