Lok Sabha Question No. 192 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-02
Subject: IT Business
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Sajda Ahmed

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 192

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 02.02.2022

## IT BUSINESS

## 192. SHRIMATI SAJDA AHMED:

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

- (a)  the details of the measures taken by the Government to reduce regulatory burden of doing business  in  Information  Technology  (IT)  sector  for  enabling  small  entrepreneurs  to compete with the big industries;
- (b)    whether  the  Government proposes to open IT hubs in small towns and if so, the details thereof; and
- (c)  the details of the policy adopted for promotion of Export Services by IT companies in India during the last three years?

## ANSWER

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

(a): The Government of India (GoI) under the Hon'ble PM has made ease of doing business an important  Government  policy  objective.  It  has  taken  various  initiatives  to  reduce  regulatory burden of doing business in Information Technology (IT) sector for enabling small entrepreneurs to compete with big industries. The details of such measures are as below:

-  Software  Technology  Parks  of  India  (STPI),  a  registered  society  under  Ministry  of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is implementing the Software Technology Parks (STP)/ Electronics Hardware Technology Parks (EHTP) scheme 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. For ease of doing business, a single window clearance system has been provisioned under STP/ EHTP Scheme for member units, enabling them to conduct exports operations at a pace commensurate  with  international  practices.  Further,  STPI  has  been  providing  online services to its member units for availing statutory services in a time bound manner . For ease  of  doing  business,  STPI  had  made  all  the  approvals  in  online  mode  to  allow  the employees of the STP/ EHTP units to take duty free laptops etc.  for working from Home.

In an attempt to further facilitate the IT industry to function in a seamless manner, STPI had eased the following two compliances:

-  Prior permission to carry out sales in Domestic Tariff Area (DTA) was eliminated and substituted with self-declaration/ undertaking from the member unit.
-  Import  permissions  required  to  be  obtained  by  the  unit  on  a  case  to  case  basis  was substituted with periodic permissions (Quarterly/ Half-Yearly/ Annually).
-  The  terms  and  conditions  of  the  Other  Service  Providers  (OSPs)  licensing  which  was earlier  restrictive  in  nature  (viz.,  establishing  Point-to-Point  VPN  (PPVPN) connectivity, sharing  pre-defined  location  of  extended  work  from  home  employees  and  high  security deposits)  for  companies  offering  work  from  home  option  to  their  employeeshas  been relaxed by GoI to allow the employees to work from other locations than previously shared address.

Department of Telecommunications (DoT), M/o Communications has issued new guidelines on 5 th November,  2020  to  reduce  the  compliance  burden  for  BPO  and  other  IT  enabled  service providers.

-  M/o  Labour&  Employment  has  launched  SAMADHAN  (Software  Application  for Monitoring And Disposal, Handling of Industrial Disputes) portal to empower MSMEs across  the  country  to  register  and  track  grievances  related  to  delayed  payment  and settlement of disputes;
-  M/o Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) has created asingle window system called  CHAMPIONS  (Creation  and  Harmonious  Application  of  Modern  Processes  for Increasing the Output  and  National  Strength)  to put up  and  promote  a  unified, empowered, robust, bundled and technology driven platform for helping and promoting the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) of the country.

(b): Yes, Sir. STPI has established 62 STPI centres across the country, out of which 54 are in Tier-II and Tier III locations including small towns. The list of STPI centres is at Annexure-I . Further, 22 new STPI Centre in Tier-II and Tier-III locations have been approved by GoI. List of approved STPI centres is at Annexure II .

To  create  employment  opportunities  and  dispersal  of  IT/ITES  industry  in  small  cities  and towns (excluding metro locations), GoI had launched two BPO promotion schemes, namely India  BPO  Promotion  Scheme  (IBPS)  and  North  East  BPO  Promotion  Scheme  (NEBPS). These  schemes  aim  to  incentivize  setting  up  of  53,300  seats  BPO/ITES  operations  by providing financial support up to ₹ 1 lakh per seat in the form of viability gap funding. Since the inception of these schemes, around 250 units have set up BPO/ ITeS operations across 27 States/UTs of the country, providing direct employment to over 47,000 persons.

(c): Foreign Trade Policy (FTP), notified under Foreign Trade (Development & Regulation) Act,  1992  by  Directorate  General  of  Foreign  Trade,  Department  of  Commerce,  M/o Commerce and Industry support manufacturers and service sectors including export services by  IT  companies in  India  with  special  emphasis  on  trade  facilitationand  improving  ease  of doing  business.  Current,  FTP  2015-2020  (applicable/  extended  till  March,  2022)  had introduced  new  schemes  for  exporters  of  India  called  Merchandise  Exports  from  India Scheme (MEIS) and Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS).

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## State-wise list of existing STPI centres

|   S. N | State             | Centre Name        |
|--------|-------------------|--------------------|
|      1 | Andhra Pradesh    | Kakinada           |
|      2 | Andhra Pradesh    | Tirupati           |
|      3 | Andhra Pradesh    | Vijayawada         |
|      4 | Andhra Pradesh    | Vizag              |
|      5 | Assam             | Guwahati           |
|      6 | Bihar             | Patna              |
|      7 | Chhattisgarh      | Bhilai             |
|      8 | Gujarat           | Gandhinagar        |
|      9 | Gujarat           | Surat              |
|     10 | Haryana           | Gurgaon            |
|     11 | Himachal Pradesh  | Shimla             |
|     12 | Jammu and Kashmir | Jammu              |
|     13 | Jammu and Kashmir | Srinagar           |
|     14 | Jharkhand         | Ranchi             |
|     15 | Jharkhand         | Deoghar            |
|     16 | Karnataka         | Bengaluru          |
|     17 |                   | Hubli              |
|     18 |                   | Mangalore          |
|     19 |                   | Manipal            |
|     20 |                   | Mysore             |
|     21 | Kerala            | Thiruvananthapuram |
|     22 | Madhya Pradesh    | Gwalior            |
|     23 | Madhya Pradesh    | Bhopal             |
|     24 | Madhya Pradesh    | Indore             |
|     25 | Maharashtra       | Aurangabad         |
|     26 | Maharashtra       | Kolhapur           |
|     27 | Maharashtra       | Nagpur             |
|     28 | Maharashtra       | Nasik              |
|     29 | Maharashtra       | Mumbai             |
|     30 | Maharashtra       | Pune               |
|     31 | Manipur           | Imphal             |
|     32 | Meghalaya         | Shillong           |
|     33 | Mizoram           | Aizawl             |
|     34 | Nagaland          | Kohima             |
|     35 | Odisha            | Berhampur          |
|     36 | Odisha            | Bhubaneswar        |
|     37 | Odisha            | Rourkela           |
|     38 | Pondicherry       | Pondicherry        |
|     39 | Punjab            | Mohali             |
|     40 | Rajasthan         | Jaipur             |

## Annexure-I

<!-- image -->

|   S. N | State         | Centre Name   |
|--------|---------------|---------------|
|     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         |
|     54 |               | Meerut        |
|     55 | Uttarakhand   | Dehradun      |
|     56 | West Bengal   | Durgapur      |
|     57 |               | Haldia        |
|     58 |               | Kharagpur     |
|     59 |               | Kolkata       |
|     60 |               | Siliguri      |
|     61 | Tripura       | Agartala      |
|     62 | Goa           | Goa           |

List of Upcoming STPI centres

| State          |   S.N | Location   |
|----------------|-------|------------|
| Madhya Pradesh |     1 | Chhindwada |
| Madhya Pradesh |     2 | Jabalpur   |
| Punjab         |     3 | Amritsar   |
| Jharkhand      |     4 | Dhanbad    |
| Jharkhand      |     5 | Jamshedpur |
| Jharkhand      |     6 | Bokaro     |
| Uttar Pradesh  |     7 | Agra       |
| Uttar Pradesh  |     8 | Varanasi   |

## Annexure-II

|                   |   9 | Gorakhpur          |
|-------------------|-----|--------------------|
| Kerala            |  10 | Kochi              |
| Arunachal Pradesh |  11 | Itanagar           |
| Odisha            |  12 | Balasore           |
| Odisha            |  13 | Sambalpur          |
| Odisha            |  14 | Jajpur             |
| Odisha            |  15 | Angul              |
| Odisha            |  16 | Koraput (Jayepore) |
| Bihar             |  17 | Darbhanga          |
| Bihar             |  18 | Bhagalpur          |
| Haryana           |  29 | Panchkula          |
| Gujarat           |  20 | Bhavnagar          |
| Karnataka         |  21 | Davangere          |
| Himachal Pradesh  |  22 | Kangra             |

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