The Hindu Business Line : STPI policy will be extended: Maran

The policy on Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) will be extended and the Information Technology Ministry is for continuing its support to IT companies through STPIs, said the Union Minister for Information Technology, Mr Dayanidhi Maran. In an informal interaction with presspersons , Mr Maran said the STPI policy has a proven track record and the Government was for extending it. "I am a supporter of STPI," he said.

STPI is an autonomous society under the Ministry, under which, the information technology companies get fiscal benefits, infrastructure support and facilitated clearance of paper work. As of now the industry's concern is that these benefits will cease with the scheme expected to end in 2009. Mr Maran said that a Cabinet note is being prepared to extend the facilities and concessions.

Mr Maran had earlier met the officials of IBM, who had evinced interest in expanding operations in India. Apart from Chennai, the company is looking at a presence in Coimbatore.

Companies have evinced interest in Tiruchi and Madurai also.

The Minister felt that real estate developers were a stumbling block in the development of industries. At the first sign of information technology, companies coming in the real estate booms, land prices soar and stop development, he said.

Also in the pipeline is a policy for attracting investments in semiconductor technology and industry. The Information Technology Ministry has discussed the issue with the Finance Ministry on this and the `decks have been cleared.'

This would pave the way for the start of the $3-billion SemIndia project for manufacturing semiconductors. The decks have been cleared for the implementation of the project, which is to come up in Andhra Pradesh. The aim was to put together a support package through a `SEZ-plus' approach, he said.

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