Lok Sabha Question No. 2505 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-15
Subject: IT Hubs
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Khan Saumitra, Janardan Singh Sigriwal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2505

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 15.03.2023

## IT HUBS

## 2505.   SHRI SAUMITRA KHAN: SHRI JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether the Government proposes to develop Information Technology (IT) Hubs in small cities in the country particularly in West Bengal and Bihar, if so, the details thereof;
- (b)  whether the Government proposes to give an impetus to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in this regard and if so, the details thereof; and
- (c)   the steps taken by the Government in this direction so far?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR)

(a):    Yes,  Sir.    Government  of  India  (GoI)  has  taken  various  initiatives  to  promote Information  Technology  (IT)/  IT  enabled  Services  (ITeS)  industry  across  the  country including small cities.  Software  Technology Parks of  India (STPI), an autonomous society under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), is instrumental in taking digital  technologies  across  the  country  to  drive  the  Government's  initiatives  to  the  smaller towns. Till date, 63 STPI centres have been set-up across the country including5 centres in West Bengal at Durgapur, Haldia, Kharagpur, Kolkata and Siliguri; and 1 in Bihar at Patna. Additionally, Government of India has also approved 22 new STPI centres across the country including 2 centres in Bihar at Bhagalpur and Darbhanga. State/UT-wise list of existing and approved STPI Centres are at Annexure-I and II.

(b):  Yes, Sir. It has been endeavour of the GoI to put in place a liberal and transparent policy for attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), wherein most of the sectors are open to FDI under the automatic route. As per extant Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy, 100% FDI is  allowed in IT sector under automatic route (except the land border sharing country with India)  subject  to  applicable  laws/  regulations;  security  and  other  conditions.  A  total  of  Rs. 3,56,303/- Crore FDI has been committed in Computer Software and Hardware during FY 2019-2022and Rs. 63,819 Crores in the current FY 2022-2023 (till Dec, 2022).

(c):   GoI is implementing Software Technology parks of India (STP) Scheme through STPI, which  is  a  100%  export-oriented  Scheme  for  the  development  and  export  of  computer software,  including  export  of  professional  services  using  communication  links  or  physical media.  The  export  by  STPI  registered  IT/  ITeS  Units  is  increasing  on  Y-o-Y  basis  and  is stands at $ 80.3 Billion in the FY 2021-22.

Further,  National  Policy  on  Software  Products  (NPSP)  -  2019  has  been  notified  by  the Government  to  promote  software  product  ecosystem  in  the  country.  In  accordance  with NPSP,  Government  has  approved  the  Next  Generation  Incubation  Scheme  (NGIS)  with  a budgetary outlay of Rs. 95.03 crore to extend incubation facilities to tech start-ups in 12 STPI centres located in small cities including one incubation facility in Bihar at Patna.

GoI had also launched India BPO Promotion Scheme (IBPS) & North East BPO Promotion Scheme  (NEBPS)  under  Digital  India  Program  with  the  aim  to  create  employment opportunities and dispersal of IT/ITeS industry in small cities/towns by incentivize setting up of  BPO/ITeS  operations.  The  duration  of  IBPS  and  NEBPS  was  up  to  31.03.2019  & 31.03.2020 respectively to invite new bids, however disbursements may continue beyond this period.  Under  these  schemes  246  units  have  set  up  BPO/ITeS  operations  across  27 States/UTs of the country providing direct employment to 52065 persons.

Further,  GoI  has  announced  GENESIS  (Gen-Next  Support  for  Innovative  Startups)  to discover,  support,  grow  and  make  successful  startups  in  small  cities  with  emphasis  on collaborative engagement among  startups, government and corporates for promoting digitization  based  on  the  principals  of  inclusivity,  accessibility,  affordability,  leading  to growth in employment and economic outputs.

******

|   S. No | State             | Centre Name        |
|---------|-------------------|--------------------|
|       1 | Andhra Pradesh    | Kakinada           |
|       2 |                   | Tirupati           |
|       3 |                   | Vijayawada         |
|       4 |                   | Vizag              |
|       5 | Assam             | Guwahati           |
|       6 | Bihar             | Patna              |
|       7 | Chhattisgarh      | Bhilai             |
|       8 | Gujarat           | Gandhinagar        |
|       9 |                   | Surat              |
|      10 | Haryana           | Gurgaon            |
|      11 | Himachal Pradesh  | Shimla             |
|      12 | Jammu and Kashmir | Jammu              |
|      13 |                   | Srinagar           |
|      14 | Jharkhand         | Ranchi             |
|      15 |                   | Deoghar            |
|      16 | Karnataka         | Bengaluru          |
|      17 |                   | Hubli              |
|      18 |                   | Mangalore          |
|      19 |                   | Manipal            |
|      20 |                   | Mysore             |
|      21 |                   | Davangere          |
|      22 | Kerala            | Thiruvananthapuram |
|      23 | Madhya Pradesh    | Gwalior            |
|      24 |                   | Bhopal             |
|      25 |                   | Indore             |
|      26 | Maharashtra       | Aurangabad         |
|      27 |                   | Kolhapur           |
|      28 |                   | Nagpur             |
|      29 |                   | Nasik              |
|      30 |                   | Mumbai             |
|      31 |                   | Pune               |
|      32 | Manipur           | Imphal             |
|      33 | Meghalaya         | Shillong           |
|      34 | Mizoram           | Aizawl             |
|      35 | Odisha            | Berhampur          |
|      36 |                   | Bhubaneswar        |
|      37 |                   | Rourkela           |
|      38 | Pondicherry       | Pondicherry        |
|      39 | Punjab            | Mohali             |
|      40 | Rajasthan         | Jaipur             |
|      41 |                   | Jodhpur            |
|      42 | Sikkim            | Gangtok            |
|      43 | Tamil Nadu        | Chennai            |
|      44 |                   | Coimbatore         |
|      45 |                   | Madurai            |
|      46 |                   | Tirunelveli        |
|      47 |                   | Trichy             |
|      48 | Telangana         | Hyderabad          |
|      49 |                   | Warangal           |
|      50 | Uttar Pradesh     | Allahabad          |
|      51 |                   | Kanpur             |
|      52 |                   | Lucknow            |
|      53 |                   | Noida              |

|   S. No | State       | Centre Name   |
|---------|-------------|---------------|
|      54 |             | Meerut        |
|      55 | Uttarakhand | Dehradun      |
|      56 | West Bengal | Durgapur      |
|      57 | West Bengal | Haldia        |
|      58 | West Bengal | Kharagpur     |
|      59 | West Bengal | Kolkata       |
|      60 | West Bengal | Siliguri      |
|      61 | Tripura     | Agartala      |
|      62 | Goa         | Goa           |
|      63 | Nagaland    | Kohima        |

## Annexure-II

## State-wise list of approved new STPI Centres

|   S.N | State             | Location          |
|-------|-------------------|-------------------|
|     1 | Madhya Pradesh    | Chhindwada        |
|     2 | Madhya Pradesh    | Jabalpur          |
|     3 | Punjab            | Amritsar          |
|     4 | Jharkhand         | Dhanbad           |
|     5 | Jharkhand         | Jamshedpur        |
|     6 | Jharkhand         | Bokaro            |
|     7 | Uttar Pradesh     | Agra              |
|     8 | Uttar Pradesh     | Varanasi          |
|     9 | Uttar Pradesh     | Gorakhpur         |
|    10 | Uttar Pradesh     | Bareilly          |
|    11 | Kerala            | Kochi             |
|    12 | Arunachal Pradesh | Itanagar          |
|    13 | Odisha            | Balasore          |
|    14 | Odisha            | Sambalpur         |
|    15 | Odisha            | Jajpur            |
|    16 | Odisha            | Angul             |
|    17 | Odisha            | Koraput (Jeypore) |
|    18 | Bihar             | Darbhanga         |
|    19 | Bihar             | Bhagalpur         |
|    20 | Haryana           | Panchkula         |
|    21 | Gujarat           | Bhavnagar         |
|    22 | Himachal Pradesh  | Kangra            |