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At ₹369cr, IT sector investments witness jump of 200% in 2018-19
The growth is expected to create 7,200 additional jobs in Mohali and other parts of the state.
The state has seen a 200% jump in investments in the information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services (ITeS) sector in financial year 2018-19. It attracted actual investments worth ₹369 crore in the sector as compared to ₹121.5 crore during the previous year.
KindleBit Solutions, Netsmartz, Bajaj Electronic, Meritech Software, Click Labs and CRM are among the firms that have set up their software development unit and IT services facilities in the state.
These investments are expected to create 7,200 additional jobs in Mohali and other parts of the state. The state also reported IT exports of ₹4,400 crore in 2018-19 from 150-odd firms employing over 35,000 techies, according to IT department.
Director, information technology, and Invest Punjab chief executive officer Rajat Agarwal attributed the surge in investments to aggressive policy advocacy and proactive follow up with investors. “Our target is to double the investment in IT and ITeS sectors this year,” he said, betting big on the “positive environment” created by special fiscal incentives given in the Industrial and Business Development Policy in 2017.
The state government had, in its policy, provided for exemption from electricity duty, stamp duty, external development charges and other levies to investments in the sector as a thrust area. The steps taken to improve the ‘ease of doing business’ is another factor that seems to have working for them.
Bharat Mittal, head of US-based Compu-Vision Consulting Inc, who had more or less decided to have a set-up in Pune for his new artificial intelligencebased trading app for stock markets, changed his mind after a visit to the incubation centre in Mohali two months ago. The consulting service provider has already got a 20-member team in place and plans to expand it to 100 within a year. “State-of-the-art infrastructure, connectivity, simple processes and smooth clearances helped me decide quickly,” he said before flying back to New Jersey.
With Gurgaon and Noida getting a tad too crowded and facing pollution, the department plans to push the state as an investment designation for IT industry.
But, industry experts see availability of skilled techies and re-skilling facilities in the region as a challenge even though there has been improvement in recent years. The department is working on setting up centres of excellence in artificial intelligence, machine learning, electronic system design and manufacturing, and data analytics to promote development of latest cutting edge technologies. “Proposals have been sent to the central government for two centres of excellence for ESDM and info-tech in agriculture. Another one has been proposed for AI and data sciences with the support of the Government of Japan,” said Agarwal.
