Date:29/07/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/07/29/stories/2005072906220600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

YSR promises incubation facilities for IT companies

Special Correspondent

Industry asked to expand into smaller cities and towns

HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy has announced that incubation and other infrastructural facilities will be provided to start-up IT companies. He said the Government was aiming at reducing power tariff for industries by a substantial margin shortly.

Inaugurating TiE-ISB Connect 2005, a forum connecting entrepreneurs with investors and mentors, he said on Thursday that Andhra Pradesh would be developed into a model State, and appealed to captains of the IT industry to expand into the tier-II cities and towns such as Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati. He said power tariff had already been reduced by 4 per cent from April this year.

He said that a 20,000-acre knowledge corridor was being created in Hyderabad with the knowledge sector industry like IT, ITES, R&D, science and technology, health, finance, insurance and other emerging sectors. "Our approach is far-sighted with holistic development of the State," he said.

Listing out various initiatives taken by his Government, he said that the Government was keen on rapid growth of the industry and new ICT policy was a clear reflection of its vision to achieve it. "I want this ICT growth spread across 2.75 lakh sq. km of the State."

Keynote address

In his keynote address, the Chairman of Satyam Computers, B. Ramalinga Raju, said that along with the emergence of knowledge industry, the companies were looking at new ways towards value creation. There was also the trend of many entities collaborating and creating larger value than operating a large organisation as a monolithic. He said that 44 per cent of global outsourcing was represented by Indian IT companies.

He said that while market capitalisation was around $ 50,000 per person in the USA, it was one-fifth less in India. In other words, five times more value was assigned to Indian companies.

M. Rammohan Rao, Dean, Indian School of Business (ISB), urged the industry to participate in the centres of excellence proposed to be set up in the ISB.