IT parks issue to be resolved by month-end

All the issues pertaining to information technology (IT) parks in Madurai would be settled by this month-end, Information Technology Minister K.A. Sengottaiyan has said. Addressing IT entrepreneurs at a meet here on Friday, he said that the very aim of establishing IT parks was to reverse the trend of migration of educated youth from tier-two cities such as Madurai and Tirunelveli to metropolitan cities such as Bangalore and Hyderabad in search of job. Stating that while Bangalore was facing traffic congestion and the Telangana issue was disrupting peace in Hyderabad thus creating fear among entrepreneurs, he said that the IT Parks set up by ELCOT in Madurai and Tirunelveli were to attract small entrepreneurs. The issues of modifying the eligibility criteria of Rs. 1 crore annual turnover for getting space in the IT/information technology-enabled services special economic zone and minimum space of allotment as raised by Software Industries Development Association (SIDA) would be taken to the notice of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and settled by this month-end, he said. The IT parks were meant for the development of southern districts, he added. Graduates passing out of 140 professional colleges in the southern districts would be benefited through them, he added. IT Secretary Santosh Babu pointed out the shift in government policy regarding allotment of space in IT Parks. “We targeted the IT majors. But, now, we are also looking at medium and small scale entrepreneurs,” he said. The data recovery centre of Tamil Nadu government, a backup facility for the data centre in Chennai, would be set up in Madurai, he said. Dr. Babu said that the government was formulating new hardware policies. A rural BPO would be set up in Srirangam, he added. “Simplify norms” SIDA president R. Sivarajah, sought simplified eligibility norms for local SMEs and minimum capital expenditure component to enable local small and medium enterprises enter the SEZ. He sought a separate zone or floor within the IT SEZ for SMEs that do not have export revenues and minimum turnover requirement now, but have the potential to achieve the SEZ norms in future. Such SMEs should be provided all the infrastructure such as telecom, network and power on a par with export-oriented units, except for the tax-exemption. “If smaller spaces in the range of 1,000 to 1,500 square feet were made available for SMEs, members of SIDA are ready to take up around 25,000 square feet,” he said. Minister for Cooperation Sellur K. Raju, Mayor V.V. Rajan Chellappa, ELCOT Managing Director Atul Anand, Collector U. Sagayam and MLAs were present.