Friday, August 5, 2011

Orissa IT export crosses Rs 1,300 cr






Business Line New facility: The Orissa Chief Minister, Mr Naveen Patnaik, flanked by the Minister for IT, Mr Ramesh Majhi (2nd from right), Mr S. Mahalingam (3rd from right), CFO and Executive Director of TCS, unveiling the foundation stone of Kalinga Park Phase-II of TCS in Bhubaneswar on Friday. — Photo: Ashoke Chakrabarty


CM launches Phase II of Kalinga IT Park

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 5: Orissa's IT exports crossed Rs 1,300 crore and provided direct employment to 10,000 during 2010-11, the Chief Minister, Mr Naveen Patnaik, said today. The State capital has also made good progress in the IT SEZ sector and to promote such Industries, IT SEZs were being established at Infocity and Infovalley here, Mr Patnaik said.

The industry-friendly ICT Policy 2011, the IT road map for the State, special economic zone policy and IT hardware policy were being prepared to attract more IT industries to the State. “Undoubtedly, the State has always been in the forefront in the IT revolution,” the Chief Minister said.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/info-tech/article2328665.ece

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

National Conference on Information Technology in Smart Product Management (IT SMPM 2011)

This conference will be held on 19th March and 20th March at KIIT University, Bhubaneswar supported by Dept. of Information Technolgoy, Govt. of India, New Delhi

Please refer the following link for interested participants

http://www.kiit.ac.in/pdf/mechconference.pdf

IT investment in Orissa region to be taken up at Rs 17,883-cr

The implementation of the proposed Information Technology (IT) investment region in Orissa will involve a cost of Rs 17,883 crore.

"The IT investment region would generate jobs for 0.23 million people and accommodate a population of around 0.54 million. More than 75 per cent of the investment will be made on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode”, an official source told Business Standard.

The state government has already submitted the final report on the proposed IT investment region prepared by IL&FS-Infrastructure Development Corporation (IL&FS-IDC) to the Government of India. Besides Orissa, the IT investment regions are set to come up in the states of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

The IT investment region (ITIR) in Orissa is to be developed on an area of 40 sq km (around 10,000 acres) between Bhubaneswar and Khurda. The ITIR project is expected to be fully operational by 2020.

In the final project report on the ITIR, IL&FS-IDC had included among other things an airport, a global IT training centre, a bio-tech park and a science city spread over 350 acres.

The airport was proposed to be developed on an area of about 2,300 acres close to the site of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Orissa which is being set up over 900 acres of land at Jatni, about 20 km from the city. The Infocity-II project being built by the state government on over 600 acres of land at Janla on the outskirts of the city would also be a part of the IT investment region.

The ITIR would be developed in two phases out of which 20 per cent expenditure is committed for the first phase while the balance 80 per cent will be in the second phase.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/it-investment-region-to-be-takenat-rs-17883-cr/420504/

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Orissa achieves 36 pc growth in IT sector, IT urges for better infrastructure



Thursday, July 03, 2008

Bhubaneswar: Inaugurating the two-days Orissa.IT@2008 symposium on Wednesday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said State Government would provide all sorts of help to the IT companies for setting up their units in the State. "Orissa is moving at a faster rate and has achieved a growth rate of 36 per cent per annum," Patnaik said.

ddressing the inaugural ceremony of two-day Orissa.IT@2008, a meet of IT industries, here on Wednesday, Pramod Bhasin, president and CEO of Genpact, Kris Gopalakrishnan, CEO of Infosys, and Subroto Bagchi, co-founder of MindTree Consulting were univocal in their appeals.

They said, “let’s not repeat mistake done by major cities. More companies are coming. The IT development will explode now. You should be pro-active in putting the right infrastructure in place.”

“Quality of life in major cities is deteriorating. Traffic is woeful. Cities like Bhubaneswar have to be the fuel for growth. But our fear is if the city would be overtaken by the growth,” Mr. Bhasin said.

The Infosys CEO proposed that the State Government start working on metro train as it would become a difficult affair after a few years from now.

“The State Government should also increase student capacity in engineering colleges so that the growth in IT sector is supplemented by quality manpower,” Mr. Gopalakrishnan said.

He said, “an integrated plan should have to be formulated for infrastructure development and enhancement of skills. Then only in future we can look back and say we had done our bit.”

Mr. Bagchi, however, said people of Orissa were inclusive which made the city hot destination for IT growth. This was the reason why Bangalore could become IT capital of the country, he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Patnaik said Orissa was now ninth largest software exporting state in the country and the IT sector was growing at 35 per cent annually. “We are poised to grow at bigger pace in the sector,” he said.

Chief Minister said the State Government had given emphasis on IT-enhancing skills right from school to graduate level and appointed international IT consultancy agency to help it out. He on his part too urged the IT companies to set up their establishments in the State.

source: http://www.orissadiary.com/Shownews.asp?id=7360

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Infosys Tech to set up an SEZ in Orissa

Infosys Technologies, the leading IT services and consulting company, plans to set up an Information Technology Special Economic Zone (ITSEZ) in Bhubaneswar with an estimated investment of Rs 300 to Rs 350 crore.

"We have applied to the Orissa government for setting up an ITSEZ in Bhubaneswar and requested the chief minister to provide the required land", T V Mohan Das Pai, director- Human Resources, Infosys, said. Emerging from a two hour long discussion with Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in the state secretariat, Pai said, the company has sought 50 acres of land for the project.

He said, the company proposes to invest about Rs 500 crore in the IT and ITeS sectors in Orissa. Out of this Rs 300-350 crore is earmarked for the SEZ. Infosys has such facilities in cities like Bangalore, Jaipur, Chennai and Pune.

Stating that Orissa is an important destination for the company, the Infosys HR head said, the company was the first to come to Orissa way back in 1995." We have a large stake in the state and want to grow in Orissa", he remarked.
He said, the company has about 3000 employees in its Bhubaneswar Development Centre. It recruited about 700 engineers from the state during the current year.

Besides, 200 persons were recruited by the BPO wing of the company including 45 from the economically backward Koraput district. Infosys also exported software worth Rs 642 crore from Orissa during the last fiscal.
Regarding his meeting with Patnaik, he said, it essentially pertained to issues like improving the employability of the Orissa youth, restructuring social sector schemes and improving the mid-day meal scheme.
A team consisting of leading heart surgeon Devi Prasad Shetty, Team Lease CEO, Manish Agarwal met Patnaik and made presentations. He said, Shetty runs the country's largest chain of health services for BPOs and wants to set up a very large heart hospital in Bhubaneswar. The chief minister was requested to facilitate the process.
Similarly, Agarwal made a presentation on improving the employability of the youth of Orissa. Patnaik suggested him to work in association with the Livelihood Mission of the Orissa government.

Regarding the other areas of the company's involvement Pai said, through Akshya Patro Foundation Infosys is providing mid-day meal to 30,000 children in Puri district and 10,000 children in Nayagarh district. The company intends to increase the number to 50,000 in Puri district next year. It has so far spent Rs 5.5 crore on various CSR initiatives in the state.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

BHUBANESWAR - the fastest growing IT hub in India

Bhubaneswar has emerged as one of the fastest growing IT hub in India. The Govt has provided with adequate land for the development of IT parks like Infocity 1 & 2. The Info City Bhubaneswar was conceived as a five star park, under the Export Promotion Industrial Parks (EPIP) Scheme to create high quality infrastructure facilities for setting up Information Technology related industries. While Infosys and Satyam Computer Services Ltd. have been present in the city since 1996-97, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Wipro Technologies have acquired land in Infocity recently[citation needed]. This has earned the state capital in eastern India the unique distinction of having the presence of the big four i.e. Infosys, Satyam, TCS and Wipro. NetHawk has opened its research and development center in Bhubaneswar since April 2005. MindTree is also allotted 30 acres of land to start its business. On 5th Nov 2007 IBM announced its planning to kickstart its SME operation in Bhubaneswar.

In ASIC and Chip Design, ASIC Architect Inc and Perfectus Technology Inc are some of the popular international companies operating from Bhubaneswar. Silicatec is the VLSI training institute in the city.

Other major IT companies including Hexaware Technologies, Ramtech Systems etc have also finalised plans for starting operations at Bhubaneswar[

India's top most IT consulting firms, including Satyam Computer Services, TCS (Tata Consultancy Services), MindTree Consulting, Hexaware Technologies, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Infosys have large branches in Orissa. IBM, Syntel, Bosch and Wipro are setting up development centers in Orissa.

Orissa has abundant natural resources and a large coastline. It contains a fifth of India's coal, a quarter of its iron ore, a third of its bauxite reserves and most of the chromite. Rourkela Steel Plant[1] was the first integrated steel plant in the Public Sector in India. It receives unprecedented investments in steel, aluminium, power, refineries and ports. So far, two of the S&P CNX 500 conglomerates have corporate offices in Orissa viz. National Aluminium (2005 gross income Rs.51,162 million) and Tata Sponge Iron (2005 gross income Rs.2,044 million).

Orissa is notable as one of the first Indian states to have tackled its structural problems during the post 1994 Indian economic reforms. Orissa was the first state in India to begin to privatise its electricity transmission and distribution businesses. Over the period between 1994 and 2000 Orissa's former state electricity board (SEB) was restructured to form Gridco. This corporation was then divided into Transco and a collection of distribution companies. Attempts were then made to sell the distribution companies to the private sector. Like many other states, in 1996 Orissa was losing over 50% of the electricity it was delivered. The scale and importance of these reforms is notable and an important milestone in India's dramatic economic development.

Performance of Indian states in providing basic social services like education, healthcare, etc., in 2001. Darker states have done better.Recently the number of companies who have signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) to set up steel plants in the state has gone up to 50, including Posco of South Korea which has agreed to construct a mammoth $12 billion steel plant near Paradip port. It would be the largest single investment in India's history. Arcelor-Mittal has also announced plans to invest in another mega steel project amounting to $10 billion. Russian major Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Company (MMK) plans to set up a 10 MT steel plant in Orissa too. The state is attracting an unprecedented amount of investment in aluminum, coal-based power plants, petrochemicals, and information technology as well. In power generation, Reliance Industries (Anil Ambani Group) is putting up the world's largest power plant with an investment of US $13 billion at Hirma in Jharsuguda district. Vedanta Resources’ 1.4 million tonne alumina project in Kalahandi district is the largest investment in aluminium. Vedanta has also announced a $ 3.2 billion dollar huge private University project on the lines of the Ivy League Universities, which is unprecedented in the history of education in India.

The Central Government has agreed to accord SEZ (Special Economic Zone) status to eight sites in Orissa among which are Infocity at Bhubaneswar and Paradip.

Although Paradip is Orissa's only large port, the coastal towns of Dhamra and Gopalpur are being developed into major ports as well. The government of India has selected the coastal region of Orissa, stretching from Paradip in the north to Gopalpur in the south to be developed as one of the five or six Special Economic Regions (SERs) of the country. The government of India and the state government of Orissa would work together to erect world class infrastructure in this region along the lines of the Rotterdam, Houston, and Pudong regions. This would stimulate further private investment in petrochemicals, steel, and manufacturing. A recent Morgan Stanley report forecasts that Orissa would be flooded with massive investments for manufacturing related activities in the same manner that Bangalore had attracted software investment in the 1990s. The scale of the investments in Orissa would, however be much higher. As of July 2006, the total planned investment in the state is a whopping $90 billion. This includes some investment in research, education, hospitals, roads, ports, airports, and hotels. There are many multi-state irrigation projects in development, including Godavari River Basin Irrigation Projects.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Another SEZ coming up in IT sector for Orissa

Monday, April 07, 2008

Bhubaneswar: Another SEZ (Special Economic Zone) is coming up in the State in the IT sector. Currently, the State has four SEZs in this sector.

It would be set up in 25 acres of land in Bhubaneswar on a Public -Private Partnership (PPP) mode. Electronic and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ECS) and Larsen and Turbo (L&T) would provide the necessary support for establishment of the SEZ. Government will provide the land for this purpose. IT Minister Surjya Naryan Patro said the State Government has decided to set up 5 IT SEZs in the State and approached the Centre to get the required approval for notification. 1074 acres of land has earmarked for the development of IT services.

Till date Orissa has applied for 14 SEZs, of which 3 have been cleared, six given in principle clearance and five have received formal clearance from the Centre.

Meanwhile, the State Government has urged the Centre to sanction an Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) to boost growth of IT and IT enabled services. The ITIR is being planned in the State will house space for hardware manufacturing units other than having provisions for new integrated townships, special economic zone and industrial parks.

source: http://www.orissadiary.com/Shownews.asp?id=6358