With a view to instil confidence among investors, the State government is toying with the idea of locating the Directorate of Information Technology & Communication (IT&C) in Visakhapatnam.
A source in the IT&C Department told The Hindu that the proposal was at advanced stage of consideration. Interestingly, Visakhapatnam accounted for a business turnover of Rs. 1,450 crore during the last fiscal as against Rs. 63,000 crore in Hyderabad. In its new IT policy, the government promises to create a built-up area of five crore square feet and five lakh jobs, of which five lakh sq. ft. will be developed in Visakhapatnam by 2020. The city already has one million square feet of built-up infrastructure, with four functional IT Special Economic Zones viz., two at Madhurawada and one each at Gambheeram and Visakhapatnam Special Economic Zones. Tech Mahindra and Wipro have also sought SEZ status for their future projects.
“With a cosmopolitan culture and an international airport, other cities stand nowhere compared to Visakhapatnam. Hence, not only the Directorate, the Department of IT&C should be shifted to Visakhapatnam ,” CII Visakhapatnam zone IT cell chairman O. Naresh Kumar said, adding that the government’s announcement on the setting up of the APIIC Executive Officer’s office here should be implemented immediately. “Our city is the 10 largest contributor to GDP with good connectivity. We are ahead of other towns and cities in IT infrastructure. Hence, it deserves to be promoted as a leading IT hub,” said Govinda Rao, advisor to Vizag IT Association (VITA).
