HYDERABAD: Describing 2020 as an eventful and emotional year, MAUD and IT Minister KT Rama Rao on Thursday announced that the State government is planning to open a new IT tower in Kompally for the benefit of SMEs and a new cluster in Kollur in the North West of Hyderabad.
Speaking at HYSEA's Annual Innovation Summit, he said that IT towers will also be opened at Nizamabad, Khammam and Mahbubnagar later this year or early next year.
"This is to disperse the IT sector around the city. There are a slew of benefits, including 30 per cent rental rebate for the SMEs and anyone who brings in more than 500 employees to the GRID regions will get a custom package. We will be doing the groundbreaking for the Kompally tower next week. We already have more than 200 SMEs interested in taking space here," he said.
"We have opened an IT tower in Karimnagar and it is running to full capacity. Already, there is a demand for phase II. We are opening towers in Khammam, Nizamabad, and Mahbubnagar later this year. Our IT tower in Warangal is also running to full capacity," he added.
"CYIENT and Tech Mahindra are already there and happily expanding. CYIENT has a very modern facility there. Tech Mahindra is utilising our incubation space and will soon expand to their own facility," he added.
SME advisory panel
The Minister also said that the State government has created an SME Advisory Committee to ensure that a good portion of the government software work goes to the SMEs. "The committee is already operational. Several SMEs have been empanelled and they are supporting the government with the software for the Ease Of Doing Business Application," he said.
"Even though work from home is in vogue now, we believe that campuses and workplaces are there to stay in the long run. And on the other side, our State’s IT exports grew by 18% in the last financial year. This is more than double the national average of 8 per cent," Rao said.
"An incredible story for us to tell the rest of the world is that Hyderabad is the place to come and invest. We have moved from sixth place to second place over the last six years in office space consumption. We are happy but not satisfied. We have set much higher targets," Rao added.
The Minister also applauded the efforts of Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association (HYSEA) and other IT organisations for their financial and outreach support during the pandemic. "The COVID pandemic has affected every one directly or indirectly. The State finances have gone dry. There was tremendous pressure on the healthcare system in the State. About a Rs 100 crore of donations have been raised by the IT industry bodies - HYSEA, AMCHAM, TIE, NASSCOM and SCSC in collaboration with the United Way of Hyderabad," he said.
"The proceeds were primarily used to procure the state of the art COVID testing equipment for government hospitals in the State. These machines will primarily benefit the poor people who visit the government hospitals," he added.