Karnataka IT hardware park by Oct

Karnataka IT hardware park by Oct

Seeks Special Economic Zone status

Business Standard



The much-delayed and ambitious IT hardware park proposed by the Karnataka government is expected to see the light of day soon.

The state government is expected to notify 1,000 acres of land for this purpose adjacent to the upcoming Bangalore International Airport by October 2005.

Sharkarlinge Gowda, secretary (IT&BT), Government of Karnataka said: “All the necessary requirements for setting up the IT hardware park are in place. After the land is notified, we will start the tendering process for companies to be part of this.”

However, he added, the state is seeking the most important SEZ (special economic zone) status for this park from the Centre. “For this park to be successful we need a lot of push from the Centre and a lot of concessions for it. SEZ status is the first step and it will aid in attracting companies,” Gowda said.

After the SEZ approval comes in, the state is expected to come out with a hardware policy on the lines of the now successful software policy, which has been a pioneering example in the country.

“We need to work out a lot of details along with SEZ concessions for the hardware policy and we will start work on this soon after we get the status,” he added.

Speaking on the biotech park being planned near Electronics City, he said that the entire 86 acre plot has already been booked and they are in the process of starting the tendering for a building contractor.

“Twenty-five companies have already booked space at this park and we should be calling for tenders by next week,” Gowda said.

Speaking on the Bangalore IT.in 2005 scheduled to be held in Bangalore during October, he said: “As usual it is attracting a lot of companies and we are seeing the trend of increasing number of software product firms participating. This is not only an event to attract investment but also to attract good talent. There is no doubt that this year also there will be good participation.”

Added B V Naidu, director, Software Technology Parks of India (Karnataka): “The strength of Bangalore is rising in the IT sector. For the first three months of the current fiscal, we have seen a 20 per cent increase in exports, and 15 per cent rise in the number of companies entering the state. We are pretty much on track for the projected 35 per cent growth for the entire year.”