Rajasthan woos IT investors

The BJP-led state govern-ment in Rajasthan is going all out to become one of
the front-runner states in the e-governance space. The state government is
apparently in an overhauling mode as far as improving its service delivery model
and strengthening information and communication technology backbone is
concerned.

The bureaucratic stratum of Rajasthan is working to position the state as the
most sought after IT destination for companies to establish base. The state
government has adopted a four-pronged approach to galvanize its ICT (information
and communication technology) machinery that includes promoting electronic
governance on a wider scale, making amendments to existing IT infrastructure,
elevating educational standards of the local talent pool and development of IT
enabled sectors.

IT initiatives

Apart from providing investment benefits, the Rajasthan government is also
aiming to make the internal processes of its departments efficient and ICT
friendly; for which a state datacenter has been setup in Jaipur with the aim to
facilitate vertical and horizontal integration of departmental data and
services. District level datacen-ters have also been put in place in 32
districts across the state. With the aim of reengineering its processes and
adopting new technologies, this year the government increased its IT spending by
over 200 percent sanctioning a total of Rs 50 crore for the ICT sector.

Commenting on this new wave of IT initiatives Rohit Singh,
Secretary-Information Technology and Communication Ministry, Government of
Rajasthan said, “The state government is committed to utilize ICT as the
driving force for achieving information societies and substantially improve the
quality of life for the common man. In order to accomplish the same we have
developed a comprehensive e-strategy for providing e-governance to the masses.
The state government is making efforts to utilize IT and ITeS as the planks for
employment generation and economic upliftment across all sections of the
society.”

“We might set up SEZs elsewhere in Rajasthan apart from Jaipur in the coming future but the matter is still under consideration and it will be very premature to divulge any information about it” -Rohit Singh, IT Minister

Adding further he said, “Successful implementation of the IT policy has
resulted in most government departments being IT enabled. The investment in IT/ITeS
sector has already touched significant milestones with key role players like
GenPact establishing their base in the state. Also Jaipur STPI is fast being
populated what with 104 IT companies having already aligned themselves with the
Jaipur STPI, which earned export revenue of Rs 115 crore during the last fiscal.”

The Rajasthan government is also working towards inviting IT giants to invest
in the state. The state government recently managed to convince Genpact to start
their operations in Rajasthan. As an anchor investor Genpact is running a 2,000
seater international BPO operations center in Jaipur. The company is planning to
ramp up capacity of its call center to 3,000 by the end of the financial year
2007. Along with this, Rajasthan government is in the process of establishing a
special economic zone on Jaipur Ajmer highway in collaboration with Mahindra
& Mahindra. That apart constant dialogue is also on with various
international companies for tie-ups.

However, the Rajasthan government is not denying chances for the
establishment of SEZ's in other towns of the state. Singh elaborated, “We
might set up SEZs elsewhere in Rajasthan apart from Jaipur in the coming future
but the matter is still under consideration and it will be very premature to
divulge any information about it.”

E-governance initiatives

The e-governance projects devised by the government pertain to computerization
of all departments to bring in more transparency and efficiency along with
making intra as well as inter department communication and data exchange process
smooth. Payment of bills, property registration, issuances of birth and death
certificates, FIR (first information report) registration are some of the
processes that have been simplified by government's e-governance efforts.

One of the major projects is Aarakshi, which provides residents of Rajasthan
with the facility to lodge on-line FIR. This project was awarded the Bronze Icon
at the linth National e-Governance Conference held in Kochi this February.
RajCrest (Rajasthan Computerized Registration System) project has been deployed
across the state in order to simplify the registration process. The project
extends the facility of anywhere registration of property across the state. The
e-procurement project, promises to bring transparency in government processes
particularly those related to procurement activities. The project is currently
being deployed in five government departments namely PHED, PWD, irrigation,
medical and health and department of ICT.

Another project e-mitra is an integrated platform for providing government
information and other services to rural and urban masses. Six local solution
providers that include CMS, Veermati, R2R and Easybill are managing 425 e-mitra
kiosks in the state.

Government's stance

Considering all these initiatives by the government of Rajasthan it will not be
an exaggeration to deem the state as an attractive location for development and
growth of the information technology industry. All such activities also make the
IT scenario in the state conducive for the channels community. Singh pointed
out, “Government of Rajasthan is taking several strategic initiatives to
capitalize growth opportunities in the IT and ITeS sectors to emerge as one of
the front runner states of electronic governance space. We are coming out with a
new IT and ITeS policy that provides for various concessions and incentives for
the prospective investors in this sector. Currently, the government is in the
process of establishing a SEZ in Jaipur in collaboration with Mahindra &
Mahindra, which will provide the necessary plug and play infrastructure for
global IT and ITeS companies to set up their operations in Rajasthan.”

In fact the state government is busy projecting the state as the next best
option for investment after NCR. Singh opined, “Rajasthan is only behind
Gurgaon when it comes to wooing IT investors. However, with the growing
congestion in the NCR region, companies are looking for alternate options and in
doing so they usually look for places, which are in close proximity to the
national capital region. And in that case Rajasthan is the most lucrative
destination for them.”

Development of talent pool

In order to attract investment, availability of trained local manpower is an
essential factor. For this, state government is laying greater emphasis on
talent development in the IT and ITeS sector. To achieve this the government has
tied-up with Hewitt Associates to prepare a talent development roadmap for the
state. Conceding the fact that local talent of Rajasthan lacks expertise in soft
skills and technological know-how, which perhaps are the stumbling blocks in the
development of IT and ITeS sectors Singh opined, “As per the research
conducted by David Associates, the local talent pool of Rajasthan is quite
proficient in mathematics and analytical sciences but at the same time they lag
behind in soft skills and fluent English speaking. In order to remove such gray
areas we have tied up with Nasscom and Hewitt Associates to assess the
competency level of the local talent pool for employment in BPO sector.
Moreover, the government is embarking on high-end IT training for both out of
college graduates as well as those already employed. We are also in the process
of setting up a knowledge service academy in Jaipur by the end of the current
financial year.”

Channel's gain

With the overhaul happening in the IT sector and its increasing penetration in
the state the ultimate benefits are bound to percolate down to the channels. The
partners stand to gain a great deal when the government revamps its processes
and IT enables its departments. Singh explained, “Certainly, the local trading
community of Rajasthan is one of the beneficiaries of the e-revolution that the
government has embarked upon. SEZ zone is another area where partners could pin
their hopes for closing great big deals as the corporates that will establish
base in the SEZ will ultimately require IT infrastructure. Moreover, the
government will act as a facilitator in peddling IT sectors growth and will
continue to do so in the future and ensuring a hassle-free business atmosphere
to the trading community as well.”

Anjali Choudhary