Chief minister Naveen Patnaik with Accenture chairman Avinash Vashishta at secretariat. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 11: IT major Accenture Group has evinced interest in investing in Orissa.

The Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) authorities met chief minister Naveen Patnaik last week. This was followed by the visit of Accenture chairman Avinash Vashishta, who yesterday met Naveen and offered to expand company’s activities in Orissa.

Orissa’s software export has crossed Rs 1,300 crore during the financial year, providing direct employment to more than 10,000 IT professionals.

Vasishta said: “We have a plan to launch projects in the capacity building of the unemployed youths to make them employable. To develop the youths’ employability skill, we have planned to make a collaboration with the Bhubaneswar-based International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) and Centurion Educational Trust.”

The Accenture Group chief said only through the development of the service sector, the GDP of Orissa could be improved. “We are interested to develop the mobile e-commerce sector here. This has been a success in other parts of the world, particularly in Ruanda and African continent,” Vasishta said.

The Tata Consultancy Service (TCS) has expanded its operation in Orissa. It has laid the foundation stone for the expansion of its 45-acre Kalinga Park campus here. The proposed TCS project is likely to generate direct employment for 3,400 IT professionals over and above the existing 1,200 IT professionals in TCS and indirect employability of over 250 personnel.

Naveen said: “Bhubaneswar has made good progress in IT sector. The industry friendly policies are being formulated to attract more IT industries to Orissa.”

S. Mahalingam, chief financial offer and executive director of TCS, said: “Since we began operating in Bhubaneswar in 2009, we have been impressed with the level of local talent available as well as the infrastructure and support from the authorities.”

In another development, the Orissa government has decided to review its IT policy and asked its consultant to work in this regard. The government is also planning to send a delegation of the state-run Orissa Computer Application Centre (OCAC) to study the IT related polices of Chhattisgarh and Maharastra.

“We are planning to spend Rs 1,000 crore in the sector only in the next two to three years. We will also look whether the OCAC is capable to handle requirements of the modern industries. The government will also go for the restructuring of the OCAC,” one official said.

To retain the IT manpower produced in 100 engineering colleges of Orissa, the government also plans to start an industry academia interface. “Through this interface, the industries only can utilise the manpower available in Orissa,” officials said.