IT exports: State plans big for tier 2 cities

By Pallavi Dubey | NT

Indian startups are attracting 90% of foreign investments and entrepreneurship from 30 countries that have participated in the three-day Bengaluru Tech Summit (BTS) 2021 and are ready to set up their offices, making the city ranked 23rd in the Global Startup Ecosystem, says a report published by Startup Genome.

On the concluding day of the summit, the state Minister for IT, BT, and science & technology C. N. Ashwath Narayan interacted with Pallavi Dubey on his government’s plans to attract more investments.

Foreign companies are being invited to India. How would you strike a balance between foreign investments and nurturing indigenous talent?

We need to build a sustainable ecosystem including global players, national players and state players, keeping in the proper direction so all the companies feel encouraged. For that we are trying to encourage entrepreneurship in our country through Aatmanirbhar Bharat, giving lots of incentives, encouragement and facilitation. Thus the dynamic ecosystem will lead to attracting investment for the companies.

Please tell us about the upcoming tech park in Bengaluru?

We want to accelerate IT exports in Mysuru, Mangaluru and Hubbali clusters from 2% to 5% which translates to Rs 50,000 crore over five years from the current Rs 10,000 crore that will lead to tech parks in Tier II and Tier III cities which comes under Beyond Bengaluru policy. Also, from the government side, we do have lots of tech parks developed for different categories like hardware, aerospace individually in Bengaluru. The private place has also established tech parks to encourage plug-in-play.

What needs to be done to attract bigger investment? What contribution do you hope the state will make towards achieving a $5 trillion dollar economy?

The availability of skilled manpower and costeffectiveness are favourable factors and we’re well-positioned to address challenges. So, by implementing the National education policy we can bring up the supplement requirement of manpower because talent and skilled manpower is more important to ensure that the requirement to fulfilled. Hence moving in this direction, the quality will be improvised and collaboration will increase the growth in the industry.

How do you intend to improve opportunities for women from marginalised communities, especially in terms of education?

The state of Karnataka has put lots of emphasis on women’s learning. It’s free of cost education that has been provided. We are trying to skill them with many programmes by Women Government corporation group, private institutions, skill development constitution and National Rural Livelihood Mission, which helps poor women from different crosssections of class and caste form into Self Help Groups and their federations, providing financial, economic and social development services to their members for enhancing their income and quality of life.

Do you think India needs a stronger cyber security policy?

Definitely, since everything is digitalized, markets are expanding, we need to safeguard the customs of companies, citizens and hence we are coming out with a cybersecurity policy to have a faceless experience.

How much investment has Beyond Bengaluru attracted so far? And what steps are being taken to further this initiative?

We have experienced lots of encouragement in various policies like government policy, Beyond Bnegaluru policy, engineering and R&D policy, engineering policy, Electronics system design and manufacturing policy. Along with that, a policy has been formed providing smoothness to all the companies. With the Karnataka Industries (Facilitation) Act, you need to make one application and needn’t wait for permission or NoCs for construction and utilities. Bengaluru city has been selected for ease of doing business.