The Consultative Committee on Information Technology (CCIT) of the government of Telangana has cleared proposals of eight IT/ITES companies for conversion of the tariff for electricity consumed by them from commercial to industrial category, reducing the charges by over Rs. 2 per kwh.
The committee chaired by IT Secretary Harpreet Singh met here on Thursday and examined the proposals of nine IT/ITES firms with a request for conversion of power tariff and cleared eight of them. Sources stated that under the existing IT policy the State government is extending such an incentive to IT/ITES firms a minimum of one year after their inception based on guidelines including the employment potential created by them.
Officials stated that the eight IT/ITES firms whose tariff conversion proposals were cleared at the meeting included ADP, HSBC and others. The tariff conversion would mean huge relief to the firms concerned as the tariff collected from them so far has been Rs. 8.38 per kwh (unit). However, after conversion the tariff collected from them would be Rs. 6.08 per kwh.
The sources further noted that the department has been working on a new IT policy but they have been waiting for the industrial policy to be announced first by the government. The new IT policy is likely to focus on encouraging incubation centres both in software and hardware sectors to give a proper thrust to research and development, which remains to be a neglected domain as of now. It would also encourage IT/ITES firms set up their units in tier-two cities, the sources said.
