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.

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