Odisha has proposed to set up a world class hardware and electronics park in the vicinity of the city on around 500 acres of land, says a Business Standard report.
The state government plans to develop the park in collaboration with USA, Taiwan and European nations that are expected to offer technical know how for the park. The process of identification of land for the park has already taken off.
“A task force will be constituted to expedite the proposed park. The state government will spend Rs 2 billion on creation of basic infrastructure facilities for the project like road, power, water supply and data connectivity. It is also proposed to avail ASIDE (Assistance to States for Development of Export Infrastructure & Allied Activities) grant of Rs 400 million during the 12th Plan period for this park,” said an official source.
Having attracted all the major players in software, the state government is now keen on developing the hardware and electronics sector.
Plans are afoot to frame a dedicated policy for IT hardware manufacturing for attracting investors in the sector. The move follows direction given by the Centre to all states to frame such policies for boosting growth of the IT hardware sector. It may be noted that states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat have already formulated such policies.
In the absence of specific incentives, the state was unable to pull investors in IT hardware and electronics space. The only major investment proposal was from Taiwan based NuLight Corporation that planned to invest US$ 200 million on setting up a light emitting diode (LED) manufacturing unit in the state. The unit will manufacture the LED street lamps and household bulbs. The company also intended to set up an R&D (Research and Development) centre in the state on LED systems.
