New IT policy will connect Mumbai "anywhereanytime"

The mantra of the draft IT policy framed by State Industrial and Investment Corporation of Maharashtra (SICOM), a copy of which was made available to Express Newsline is to realise a vision of `AnytimeAnywhereAnyhow’ access whereby any person, from the drylands of Latur to techno-savvy Mumbai can connect anywhere in the country and retrieve or transmit data, voice, text, audio or video.

And if that is ambitious, consider this: Six software cities are to be developed in the state – Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Nashik ina span of three years at a cost of a whopping Rs 1520 crore where national and multi-national companies join in to develop them. All towns with a population exceeding a lakh will have an internet link with the state government sharing half the cost of setting up the infrastructure with private enterprises.

Right of passage for optical fibre networks along the five main highways have been recognised and these will be expanded to cover all towns with a population of one lakh and above. On the agenda are additional earth stations, ISDN lines and microwave links to be taken up by local authorities, incentives to financial institutions to set up V Sat networks, setting up of an entire IT department at the state level under the Directorate of Industries et al.

The policy, which offers a glut of opportunities to the IT industry, both professionals and personnel, is an attempt to take the challenge head-on in stationing Maharashtra as an IT leader. Especially in the face of some aggressive marketing of IT facilities by Andhra Pradesh led by a technogeek for a chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, by Karnataka which has always boasted of a silicon valley in Bangalore and now Tamil Nadu which has joined the race by releasing an IT policy.

The policy paper addresses the problems experts have always bemoaned as a drawback of the state. “What Maharashtra lacks is state-level promotional activity while other states have always projected themselves as an ideal place for IT firms to thrive,” observes Ketan Mehta, one of the directors of Mastek Ltd, an IT giant that swears by the city of Mumbai, “The two southern states are making it extremely attractive for foreign customers by setting up IT parks on the lines of SEEPZ in Mumbai, providing telecom and training facilities by even involving Microsoft.

”As a result, the popular perception is that Mumbai is not “good enough”. Mastek which is making investments in and around Mumbai believes the city has a better business culture, a much better infrastructure especially in power and better IT professionals. Agrees Dr S Ramani, president of the National Centre for Software Technology (NCST) who points out that the number of responses to courses offered by NCST in both Bangalore and Mumbai is a good yardstick.

“While we get around 300 applications for 100 seats in Bangalore, 2000 apply for the same seats in Mumbai. One of the reasons is of course that Mumbai has three times the population of Bangalore, but then it must have six times the capital available in that city,” says Ramani.

Something D T Joseph, Managing Director of SICOM who literally persuaded Chief Minister Manohar Joshi to have an IT policy, is bent on drawing upon. Using his vast experience as former urban development secretary, Joseph has done away with all kinds of restrictions in zoning or obtaining one of those numerous permissions required to do business in the state.

So it is proposed that an IT firm be set up in any zone, even residential, since it is hi-tech and non polluting.

He hasliterally equated an IT firm with an educational institute allowing land to be allotted by the government at 25 per cent the market value. And all investments in IT, above 2500 sq ft shall be given a 100 per cent FSI as educational institutions.

But it is in the setting up of an entire IT university, `Mahatech’ that is perhaps most promising for training professionals. To be established in Pune in line with such institutes in the US, the university is to be linked with major towns like Mumbai, Nagpur, Nashik, as hubs.

All of which adds up to the resounding praise that experts have for such a policy, which is yet to be accepted by the government. “Bangalore decided 10 years ago to invest in IT as an engine of growth. Mumbai never made any such decision. If the policy is adopted, it could give a major impetus to the city and the state in not only preserving its status as the centre for financial services in the country, but also in opening up the job potential in the state,” observed Dr Ramani.