Odishatv Bureau
Bhubaneswar: The state government on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) to set up a STPI complex at Balasore. Highly placed sources said, STPI has acquired three acres of land at Bampada industrial area from Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) for the proposed complex.
 
The MoU was signed by Omkar Rai, the director general of STPI and Odisha IT department secretary M S Padhi in presence of chief minister Naveen Patnaik.
 
The north Odisha commercial town will be the fourth such centre in the state after Bhubaneswar, Berhampur and Rourkela.
 
For the Balasore centre, the Odisha government was required to provide 10,000 sqft built up space , three acres of land and Rs 1 crore as  grant in aid as state’s contribution. It has already allocated a sum of Rs 3 crore (Rs 1 crore as state’s contribution and Rs 2 crore for additional infrastructure) in the state’s annual budget for 2012-13.
 
"The proposed STPI at Balasore would act as a resource centre for IT/ITES exporting units by offering general infrastructural facilities like ready to use incubation space, High Speed Data Communication (HSDC) with 100 per cent uninterupted data connectivity and other amenities required for export of software and service," a senior functionary of STPI said.
 
The incubation facility will be available to the entreprenures who are in immediate need of high tech computing infrastracture with integrated facilities especially for Micro and Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (MSME) to kick start their business and flourish, the STPI DG said.

 
STPI, an autonomous society under Union ministry of communication and information technology, was set up with a mandate to promote software exports from the country.
 
Sources said, in Odisha over 100 IT firms are registered with STPI employing around 15,000 people. The new centre will help the state in achieving the ambitious target of 4 billion dollar IT turnover set in the state’s proposed ICT policy.
 
There are around fifty such STPI centres all over the country.
 
 
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