Announcing this, Sanjoy Das Gupta, Secretary Information Technology (IT), Govt of Karnataka, said two earth stations would be set up at Hubli and Manipal, near Mangalore, to cater to the STPs.

Gupta was briefing the press on BangaloreIT.com, the international IT event, being organised by the Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation (Keonics) and Wistex Foundation, at the International Technology Park, Bangalore, from November 1 to November 5, 1998. Around 160 companies have registered for the event so far, said Gupta.

Regarding the STP at Mysore, Gupta said work on the project is slated to begin in September, and will be followed by Hubli and Mangalore. The Pai group has also drawn up mega plans for a STP in Manipal to be dedicated to E-commerce.In Mangalore, thegovernment will also implement a project to make IT part of the curriculum in all schools starting from standard five. In Mysore, the government will start a school to coach people in the modalities of setting up an IT enterprise.

The government has so far invested around Rs 5,000 crore in IT with foreign inflow accounting for about 80 per cent.