The E-Gov Thrust

Being the capital of Chhattisgarh, Raipur enjoys a lot of trade and commerce
activity. The city is witnessing a lot of development as it also serves as the
administrative center for the entire Chhattisgarh region. The fact that the city
holds the administrative entities of state division or zonal, district and local
level organizations, makes it an important upcountry market from the IT
perspective.

Of late, the state government has been investing heavily into the development
of the region. A huge amount of investment was sanctioned for the
computerization of many paddy-collection centers, and more than 2,500 collection
centers were computerized in the process in Chhattisgarh this year. In addition,
several e-government projects were implemented viz computerization of land
revenue records. The above reasons have bolstered the growth of IT market in the
region.

“The e-government projects have contributed around 20 to 25 percent to the
overall growth of the IT market in Raipur,” mentioned Kishore Makhija, CEO,
Priyanka Computer Services.

The existence and emergence of new educational institutes in the region have
also fostered growth for the IT sector. There are already close to 28 colleges
in the region and three to four universities are about to be opened in
Chhattisgarh by the end of 2009.

Industrialization and the presence of small steel and iron industries in the
region have further given the much-required confidence to the IT market to
expand and penetrate deeper. “Many companies have been implementing ERP software
in order to improvise and accelerate their business process, which is a clear
indication of the fact that IT is fast catching up in upcountry markets. There
have been investments of close to Rs 20 to 25 lakh for meeting the networking
requirements of many customers in and around Raipur,” added Makhija.

Raipur

FACT FILE 2,500 collection centers were computerized in Chhattisgarh this year Presence of small steel and iron industries give fillip to IT market E-government projects have contributed close to 20 to 25 percent to overall growth of IT market in Raipur

Raipur has also become an important regional commercial and industrial
destination for the coal, power, steel and aluminium industries. Close to Raipur,
several industries have developed even as the city already enjoys the status of
India's biggest iron market. It is believed that Raipur will become one of the
highly developed cities of India and the commercial capital of central India by
the end of 2010.

The previous year witnessed a high demand and growth in the sale of laptops
with brands like Dell entering the market. Even the SOHO segment is at the
moment scaling up their business and realizing the importance of IT in achieving
the same.

“SOHOs are looking for products and solutions that can help them expand and
run their businesses with even more ease and this will give the much required
thrust to the IT industry in the region. There is also a huge demand for
lifestyle products including that of LCDs, iPods and gadgets. This change in the
consumer behaviour is a good sign for IT dealers and distributors operating in
Raipur.”

The system integrators (SIs) and solution providers (SPs) also have immense
opportunities to expand their businesses as there are plenty of customers in the
market who are seeking consultancy to upscale their business.

“Chhattisgarh is a new state and Raipur has a lot of potential to grow given
that it is the state capital. There is a good market for branded PCs, and IT
products and solutions are penetrating the grass root level. The above are
indications of the fact that Raipur will play a key role in furthering IT and
ITeS even to the remote areas within Chhattisgarh, including that of Bhilai and
Bilaspur,” elaborated Vipul Prjapati, Branch Manager, Ingram Micro.

He further added that in terms of futuristic trends, Raipur market will
witness a huge demand for high-end PCs and emerging technologies around storage
and solutions that are gradually being adopted by many a customers in the
region. The growth rate will be doubled in another year and half as far as IT is
concerned.

POOJA SHARMA

poojas@cybermedia.co.in