Karnataka has got in-principle approval from the Department of Electronics and Information Technology for its first Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) brownfield cluster development project in Electronic City near Bangalore, said state Minister for IT, Biotechnology and Science & Technology S R Patil on Friday.
Patil said the brownfield project is to be executed at an estimated cost of Rs 85.15 crore on about 1.6 acres. “This project will accelerate growth of the ESDM-based industry in Karnataka. We are expecting the cluster concept to work wonders in increasing the state’s electronic exports by helping the industry to penetrate rural areas of the state.”
The government has also exempted IT and other knowledge-based industries in Karnataka from state labour laws for five more years, including stamp duty exemption fo 75 per cent, Patil said. “The knowledge-based sector will be considered essential services and barred from strikes and shutdowns from April.
They will also be exempted from complying with working hours regulations as stipulated in the Karnataka Industrial Employment Rules, 1946, for another five years,” Patil said.
Srivatsa Krishna, Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, GoK, hinted at plans to draft a separate semiconductor promotion policy in due course of time.
Certificates of registration were handed over by Patil to startups operating in the ESDM sector to set up incubation centres in Tier II cities.
“We expect the new new i4 (IT, ITES, Innovation, Incentive Policy) announced recently to generate 20 lakh IT sector jobs in the state by 2020, by when Bangalore is set to become the largest employer in the state,” Patil said.
Under Employment Linked Incentivisation of Land Allotment (E-LILA) scheme, the government will encourage companies with no prior presence in the state to set up their own or leased facilities. The companies will be required to give an undertaking under E-LILA to provide minimum employment to 1,000 people
