Patna, March 7: The Bihar government is trying to rope in Infosys to help it prepare a project report for setting up an IT incubation centre in the state.
A formal request in this regard was sent to Infosys by the government late last year. The company had sent its representative to the state around a fortnight ago for discussions on the issue.
An incubation centre provides a ready-to-use high-end computing facility to IT companies which do not have sufficient capital to set up such a centre on their own. Those using the facility have to pay user charges.
“According to the assurance given by the Infosys representative, the company would help the state IT department in preparing the project report for setting up the proposed incubation centre,” a senior state government official told The Telegraph under cover of anonymity.
S. Vijayraghavan, adviser (investment) to the Bihar chief minister, had chaired the meeting which was attended by the representative of Infosys and senior officials of the state government.
Infosys is yet to officially confirm if they would be part of the project.
“I am not aware of the project yet. The details have not come to me. But such an initiative with the government is definitely welcome,” said Raghu Cavale, vice-president and head, India business, Infosys.
Help from Infosys would come as a boost to the state which is gearing up to finalise its IT policy, the draft of which was released in January this year.
The purpose of the policy is to develop Bihar as one of the IT hubs of the country and also to attract investment in the fast growing information technology sector.
Government sources said the IT policy was likely to get the stamp of approval by the end of March.
During the course of the discussion on the draft policy on January 11, noted academic and former vice-chancellor of Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, H.C. Pandey, had underlined the need for having some kind of central facility for advanced computation.
He had suggested that the government should take the initiative for having such a facility as it would be a big attraction for small IT companies willing to invest in Bihar. These small companies do not have the resources for setting up such a centre but at the same time they require this service for their functioning.
“We are eagerly waiting for a formal communication from Infosys as after that the work on formulating the project report for setting up the incubation centre would be started,” a senior Bihar IT department official said but requested that his name not be put on record.
He said the centre was likely to come up at Bihta, around 30km from Patna, where the state government had already earmarked a 15-acre plot for setting up an IT park.
“As far as the cost component is concerned, it would be worked out once the project details are available. Funding would not be a problem as the centre is likely to be set up under the public-private-partnership mode,” the senior IT department official added.
He said points like setting up of IT parks to promote IT and IT enabled service (ITES) companies, rebate on stamp duty and electricity duty, giving exemption from land and building tax to commercial buildings dedicated for software/IT industries, which figured in the draft policy, were likely to be retained in the final policy document.
“The goal is to attract private investors to the state as well as to provide an environment which could encourage the local players to come to the forefront,” the senior IT official said.
