HYDERABAD: Minister for IT and Industries KT Rama Rao has set a five-year target for Telangana to reach 10 lakh professionals to be employed in the IT and ITES sector, with 50,000 jobs to be generated in Tier I and II cities — an ambitious leap from current workforce of 6.28 lakh.
He also set benchmarks to achieve Rs 3 lakh crore in IT exports, to attract Rs 75,000 crore in investments and to create 3 lakh jobs in the electronics and manufacturing sector. During the launch of Telangana’s 2nd ICT Policy 2021-26 at HICC on Thursday, the Minister projected the growth trajectory of Telangana since its formation in the areas of IT and ITES, and set the bar high for the years to come. Talking about the IT sector’s growth in Telangana, he said there was an increase of 12.98 per cent in IT/ITES exports over the previous year, recording a total of Rs 1,45,522 crore in exports, which was more than double the national average.
He added that the per capita income in Telangana was Rs 2,27,145 as against the national average of Rs 1,27,768. Rama Rao said the ICT policy had helped enable contactless and paperless governance, ensured one person in every household was digitally literate, provide basic Artificial Intelligence training to every technology graduate and open 12,000 digital Telangana centres in every gram panchayat. He said the focus of the 2nd ICT policy was to empower and enable the citizens to take advantage of the growing digital world.
The Minister said said with special focus on electric vehicles, battery storage systems, consumer electronics, medical devices and automobile sectors, the creation of data stack — a data analysis wing, and promotion of ethical usage of emerging technologies, would establish Telangana as the leader in technology-based governance. Rama Rao said a dedicated smart cities wing with an aim to create over 40 smart regions in the State, comparable to the best smart cities in the world, would be established.
Exports rise by 13%
Rama Rao said there was an increase of 12.98 per cent in IT/ITES exports over the last year, recording a Rs 1,45,522 crore in exports — more than double the national average