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The West Bengal Government's draft IT policy, yet to be tabled before the Cabinet, has laid emphasis on developing hardware clusters in the State.
The State has identified Kolkata and Tier-II towns like Asansol, Falta, Kharagpur, Kalyani and Siliguri, as prospective areas for developing electronic system design and manufacturing (ESDM) and hardware units.
ESDM units refer to companies that design, test, manufacture, distribute and provide repair services for electronic components and assembly for original equipment manufacturers. The concept is also referred to as electronic contract manufacturing (ECM).
According to the draft IT policy papers, apart form infrastructure support, help to small and large investors to set up hardware and ESDM units will be provided through fiscal benefits such as reduced electricity tariffs and faster clearances.
Earlier, instances of hardware development in the region were restricted to a handful of local PC-makers. Some solar photo-voltaic cells are also being manufactured as an off-shoot of hardware.
“The draft has currently been circulated amongst all the committee members and is likely to be formally approved soon by them,” a committee member told Business Line.
Advisory committee formed
he State Government has already formed advisory committee on software and hardware under the chairmanship of Mr Sam Pitroda.
Mr N. R. Narayana Murthy is the chief mentor. Another area of focus for the new Government would be gaming and animation.
According to the draft policy papers, curriculum relevant to the animation and gaming industry will be developed and introduced at the University level, including select fine arts and general stream courses and technical institutions. Degree and diploma courses will be offered.
The State is eyeing a compounded annual growth rate of 35 per cent in the animation sector and a 75 per cent growth in the gaming industry over the next 5 years.
The draft report has further proposed that the Information and Technology Department be renamed Information Technology and Electronics Department, in line with the Government of India directives.
Senior officials having knowledge of the matter also added that the corpus of the State venture capital fund was likely to be increased from Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore to help IT-start-ups.
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