In order to give a boost to the infotech/infotech-enabled services sector in the state, the Uttar Pradesh government has lined up a slew of sops in its proposed policy for the sector.
The state proposes to offer an incentive of Rs 20,000 for every job with a minimum gross monthly salary of Rs 8,000 created. This will come in the form of rebate in the buying of land or for buying of built-in office space.
The policy also envisages a subsidy of 20 per cent on an investment of up to Rs 320 lakh (Rs 32 million) in fixed capital, and an additional subsidy of 5 per cent of fixed capital cost.
The government itself will be a big user of infotech products and each department will earmark 10 per cent of its budget for infotech applications.
Moreover, the state will be linked through the UP Net, which will be installed in association with the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. The policy also says it will encourage the use of open source technologies.
It also proposes the establishment of a virtual institute for IT/ITES training, headed by the chairman of the UP State Higher Education Board.
Its advisory board, drawn both from the academia and industry, will be responsible for ensuring that the curriculum design, certification methodology etc, are in line with industry needs. The departments of English of the state universities will act as nodal agencies for the IT/ITES training courses run in the colleges.
There is also a proposal to develop virtual institutes, which will network with various institutions in the state as well as internationally, to train 10,000 students in the next 2-3 years to be proficient in English and other software skills. This number will go up to 200,000-300,000 students by 2010.