TN unveils new IT policy promising 3 million additional jobs

Chennai, July 29 (UNI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today unveiled the new Information Technology (IT) policy-2008 which promises to create three million additional jobs by 2011 in the ICT sector.

This would comprise 80,000 direct jobs and 2.2 million indirect jobs in the ICT sector, Mr Karunanidhi said after unveiling the policy for 2008 in the presence of Union IT and Communications Minister A Raja and state ministers and other officials at the state Secretariat.

He said Tamil Nadu would be the ICT hub of Asia by creating a knowledge-driven eco system, leveraging entrepreneurship and promoting socially inclusive growth to achieve 25 per cent production share of the Indian ICT industry.

He said for the expansion of projects within the existing IT-ITES facility in respect of Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts, the investment in eligible fixed assets would be over Rs 250 crore in a period of three years.

They would be eligible for a structured package of incentives to be decided on a case-to-case basis.

He also announced special incentives for setting up IT-ITES industries in Tier II and Tier-III cities, besides special prizes for those firms providing employment to the physically challenged.

Apart from state Ministers, Arcot N Veerasamy, Duraimurugan, and K N Nehru, Chief Secretary L K Tripathy, TCS CFO N Mahalingam, HCL Technologies CEO Shiv Nadar, Polaris Software Chairman and CEO Arun Jain, Nokia Director (India Operations) Sachin Saxena and representatives from Cognizant, Wipro, Sathyam Computers, Infosys DELL India, Flextronics, besides CII Chairman Manickam Ramasamy, NASSCOM President Som Mittal, IIT Director M S Ananth and Anna University Vice Chancellor Dr Mannar Jawahar were also present on the occasion.

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