Telangana eyes Rs 3 lakh-cr yrly IT exports

Highlights of the policy

- Offers contactless, paperless governance

- 12,000 Digital Telangana Centres at Panchayat level

- Sets up Rs1,300-cr fund for startups

- Aims Rs50,000cr investments in electronics sector

- Expects Rs25,000cr investments into EV, energy storage system

- To develop new ICT Hubs in tier-2, tier-3 cities

Hyderabad: After successfully achieving targets set in the first ICT Policy-2016, the Telangana government has come up with the second ICT Policy for 2021-26 with an aim of achieving annual IT/ITeS exports of about Rs3 lakh crore in five years from Rs 1.45 lakh crore now.

It is aiming at taking IT jobs in the State to over 10 lakh over the next five years. Minister for ITE&C, Industries and MA&UD KT Rama Rao along with Rekha Menon, chairperson, Nasscom & Senior MD Accenture in India, unveiled the new ICT Policy here on Thursday in the presence of US Consul General Joel Reifman, Cyient Founder Chairman BVR Mohan Reddy and Cyberabad Police Commissioner Stephen Raveendra.

K T Rama Rao said, "Telangana has witnessed 13 per cent increase in the IT/ITeS exports at Rs 1.45 lakh crore in 2020 over the previous year. The State has seen the highest annual growth rate in the IT/ITeS exports during the last five years in the country and has created over 2.5 lakh jobs in the IT sector during this period bringing several marquee investors."

"The electronics sector saw over 1.5 lakh jobs being created and Telangana is now responsible for the production of seven per cent of the country's electronics output and is ever growing. The recently announced EV and ESS policies have seen high traction in the space. The State has also developed a robust innovation ecosystem," the Minister said.

He further informed that the GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) during 2020-21 was Rs 9.78 lakh crore. The growth rate fell due to the pandemic by 1.26 per cent at constant prices (2011 - 12) but significantly better than India's projected GDP contraction at 8 per cent. Telangana's share in National GDP has gone up to 5 per cent in 2020-21 against 4.74 per cent in 2019-20.

On the occasion, Rekha Menon said: "Telangana's growth story over the last few years has been scripted by the investments and innovations in technology. Their progressive policies have always set a benchmark, and the pathbreaking initiatives are the reason behind this spectacular growth. From an industry perspective, Nasscom has had deep engagements with the State."

There are big growth opportunities coming up in emerging sectors – in SaaS, AI, e-commerce and quantum computing. These would require focused investments and combined efforts from business, technology and government. To capitalise on this, the government already has put in place policies in the new ICT Policy that will help in creating structural changes, she added.

In the new policy, Telangana government has identified 12 focus sectors including IT/ITeS, product development, engineering and R&D. Also, it has chosen IMAGE (animation, gaming and entertainment), life sciences, agriculture, and defence as special focus sectors. It plans to establish six industrial parks catering to electronics and allied sectors such as EV, new energy manufacturing and LED products.Launches new ICT policy 2021-26, to take its IT jobs count beyond

10 lakh in 5 years