STPI Mohali: Driving IT Growth in North

content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"
http-equiv="content-type">



True to its tagline 'STPI is the software
exporter's window to the world' the Software
Technology Park of India has been the catalyst of the growth of IT and
ITES industry in the country. Set up by the Ministry of Communications
& Information Technology with an objective of encouraging,
promoting and boosting of software exports from India, STPI has been
spearheading the Indian IT revolution that has so much towards
contributing to India's booming GDP growth.



Started in the year 1998 with barely four companies and a manpower of
approximately 50 people, STPI Mohali today has over 150 actively
operating companies registered with it and has given direct employment
to around 12000 people. The center caters to a vast region including the
Union Territory of Chandigarh, Punjab and part of Haryana (Panchkula
area) as well as Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.



A
Humble Beginning

The Mohali unit had a modest start with Rs 8 crore in IT and ITES
domain. The center has subsequently grown over years to cross Rs 1000
crore mark, an achievement in itself considering the fact that it
caters to Tier II and III cities in the northern India belt. It
generated a revenue of Rs 1196 crore through exports in FY
'10 and is expected to cross Rs 1400 crore during the current
fiscal. “As per the current condition and the huge potential
this belt has for future, software exports are due to increase rapidly.
Measuring the growth possibilities, we are hopeful that STPI Mohali
will be able to achieve the target to generate revenue of Rs 5000 crore
by 2020,' says Ajay P Shrivastava, Joint Director &
Center Head, STPI Mohali.



In order to serve its customers (the companies registered under it)
better, STPI Mohali has come up with an integrated and well structured
website that includes online Service Helpdesk. “We have
initiated this move to provide prompt support and troubleshooting to
the companies registered with us. Upon logging in the authorized user
can submit online service requests covering both operational as well as
technical issues,” informs Shrivastava. The website also
felicitates online chat options with the service engineers.



However, the center has its own demons to deal with.
“Unavailability of relevant technical manpower is our biggest
challenge,” says Shrivastava. “Despite the region
houses several booming technical colleges that produces hundreds of
tech graduates every year, the large chunk of local manpower lacks
in-depth and specialized technical knowledge and expertise,”
he adds. Shrivastava also refers to higher attrition rate faced by the
local companies which is another big challenge. “We have to
focus more towards imparting specialized knowledge to the aspiring IT
professionals as well as enhancing work-place values and ethics in them
in order to deal with these issues,” opines Shrivastava.



Getting
Future Ready

Shrivastava is too optimistic about the future prospects in the region
as he envisages Punjab-Chandigarh belt as the most promising ICT
destination in the country. “The way the local governments is
getting proactive towards building a conducive environment supporting
growth of ICT industry in the region, I feel a lot of positive changes
are awaiting to happen in next five years,” he remarks.
According to him, the region is set to witness new development areas
that will transform the belt towards next level of growth.
“Also with availability of newer technologies in the market
like Web 2.0 and 3G mobile applications, combined with the natural
entrepreneurship of the local residents, fresh and innovative solutions
and products will be developed creating new business opportunities both
in domestic as well as global markets,” says Shrivastava.
“In such a scenario, efforts like e-Revolution will play
vital role towards making the Punjab-Chandigarh belt as the next IT hub
of India,” he concludes.