Patna: In a bid to make the best of the positive atmosphere, the Bihar government is set to formulate a new information technology (IT) policy, which according to the officials, will be most lucrative for the investors.
A hit about the ‘most rewarding IT policy’ was in the offing was dropped by Principal secretary, IT department, Santosh Kumar Mall at the recently held Digital India Week event in Gandhinagar, when he invited the investors to join in the Bihar Government’s drive to develop the state as new IT hub and destination centre for investors in the eastern India.
“We are in the process of framing the most rewarding IT policy with the objective to Bihar as the next IT hub,” said Mall, while interacting with prospective investors at the Digital India Week event, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A senior officer of the IT department, who is in the process of coordinating with different stakeholders for the policy draft, said that the investors would be offered extra incentive to create job opportunities for youths, who have to go out for the earning.
Also Read: Bihar to make its presence felt at Gujarat’s Digital India Week event
“We are making the policy most flexible in conformity with the direction of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has asked all the departments to pull of soaks and engage with investors ready to create employment opportunities. The recently launched textile and leather policies by the industries department were hailed by the sector for wooing the investors,” said the officer.
In early May, the CM had launched the country’s first greenfield grain-based ethanol plant, in Purnia at a cost of Rs 105 crore to send positive message among the investors about safety and secured return of their investments. Hindustan Unilever has also proposed to invest ₹500crore in the state in coming months.
Also Read: Bihar receives ₹817cr investment proposal, the biggest in IT sector
“The overall ambience is quire friendly for the investors in Bihar. The department has already proposed to set up two IT towers near Dak Bungalow and Bandar Bagicha to offer office space for the IT firms to set up their work stations. “Besides, the government has launched work to build an IT park in Bihta and developing an IT City in Rajgir. IIT, Patna, NIT, Patna and BIT (Mesra) are among the institutions which have been roped in as incubation centres for start-ups in the IT sector,” said the officer.
Recently, the department has received ₹817 crore proposal from a Ghaziabad firm to set up data centres across the state. “Besides the cash incentives, the state is likely to offer tax rebates on product and services to the new investors,” said the officer.
