TN to announce new IT policy

The state earned Rs 21,700 crore in 2006-07 through software export and is expected to earn Rs 28,000 crore in the present financial year.

Replying to a question in the Assembly on Monday, Local Administration Minister M K Stalin, speaking on behalf of his father and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, said the policy will also aim at doubling employment opportunities from four lakh at present to eight lakh. Both industries and IT portfolios are handled by the Chief Minister.

Two weeks ago, Karunanidhi had announced that works on an IT park in Madurai would begin in a month or two, while an IT-SEZ is being set up at Hosur by the Electronic Corporation of Tamil Nadu.

However, the state Government will not acquire land compulsorily from farmers for setting up SEZs, reiterated Stalin during the discussions.

The Government has also decided to set up country-specific industrial parks to cater to the entrepreneurs from top industrialist economies like Japan, Germany, France, Korea and Finland. Though there are a large number of MNCs that have set up shop in the state — Hyundai of Korea, Nokia and Kone of Finland and Saint Gobain of France — they function as independent units unrelated to each other.

Few trade bodies had earlier proposed setting up an “industrial corridor” on the lines of IT corridor to attract big ticket investments in manufacturing from multi-national companies.

Meanwhile, spreading cheers among parents and educationalists alike, the state Government has directed that all Government school students from classes I to V should be promoted to the next class automatically.