The Union government has given in-principle approval for the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) for development of self-contained integrated knowledge clusters for growth of IT and electronic hardware manufacturing in 50,000 acres in and around Hyderabad.
Two years after the State government sent its proposal for ITIR and clarified to the observations made by ministries concerned such as Information Technology, Commerce, Industries, Railways, Finance and Environment etc., the high-powered committee headed by Cabinet Secretary recommended in-principle approval to the APITIR project last month.
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Disclosing this here on Saturday, IT Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah said that the proposed ITIR would facilitate massive expansion of IT and ITES sector, with a potential to propel growth of IT exports from the present Rs. 50,000 crore to Rs. 2.35 lakh crore.
The ITIR project would comprise areas such as Cyberabad Development Authority including Gachibowli and Madhapur which have emerged as IT hubs, Hyderabad Airport Development Authority (HADA) including Mamidipalli, Raviryal, Adibatla and Maheswaram, Uppal and Pocharam.
The built up area in the ITIR comprising SEZs, industrial parks, free trade zones, residential areas, would increase from the present 40 million sft to 130 million sft. The direct employment is expected to grow five times from 3 lakh to 15 lakh and indirect employment to about 50 lakh people. The electronic hardware manufacturing is also expected to go up from Rs. 6,000 crore to Rs. 80,000 crore.
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An estimated Rs. 13,000 crore spread over a period of 25 years would be required for development of internal infrastructure while external infrastructure development estimated to cost Rs. 2,189 crore would be met through financial allocations from the Centre under viability gap fund scheme.
The internal infrastructure expenditure would be borne by the State, Mr. Ponnala said.