'We are not looking at fly-by-night operators'

With people from the Northeast comprising 25% of the total BPO

workforce in India, Meghalaya is all set to establish its first Software

Development Park of India (STPI) by July, a first step to encourage the IT

penetration in the land-locked region. Ranjan Chatterjee, chief secretary,

Government of Meghalaya, in an interaction with Bhaskar Hazarika and R Jai

Krishna from CyberMedia News, shared the government's plan on offering

incentives to attract IT companies.

When is the STPI getting operational in Meghalaya? And is

the Indian government responding to it?



The Government of India has examined the proposal and commissioned setting

up the STPI. It will be operational by July this year. The state has allotted

two acres of land for setting up the STPI. It has been handed over to STPI now

and the project is getting its final touch.

The government's response has been positive in this regard.

With the country's growing IT industry, which has bagged recognition across the

globe, each state is taking IT initiatives to contribute to the growth.

How is the response from the industry in terms of setting

up BPOs in the state? What are your plans?



A lot of companies have expressed interest, and are in the process of

evaluation. We are in the process of evaluating the proposals. The response from

the industry has been encouraging and we are expecting more companies in the

coming months.

Apart from the BPO sector we are also looking at the

manufacturing space. It is a place which is landlocked and we want to open it up

in terms of employment opportunities. Hand holding exercise is planned by the

government to create congenial atmosphere for the companies here.

What are the incentives that the state government would be

offering to companies willing to set up offices here?



We are currently reworking on a new IT policy to offer better incentives to

companies for setting up centers here. Further subsidies in power, value

addition and land can be provided on a case-to-case basis.

Uninterrupted power supply, available cheap manpower, and

support of the government will attract companies to set up BPOs here. However,

the quality of English speaking population will definitely be an added

advantage. From the HR point of view our state is well equipped to house BPOs.

What is your roadmap in terms of inviting IT companies to

set up offices in Meghalaya?



We are looking at the big companies and not fly-by night kind of companies.

Even though we have received expression of interest from these kinds of

companies, we are not keen on offering them to set up centers here.

We are planning to organize an annual Business Summit in

September 2007, which will offer a platform for companies to explore dialogue

with government officials. As a part of business initiative our officials will

be visiting IT hubs of the country like Gurgaon and Bangalore, designated as

'Business Ambassadors'.

Will this initiative by Meghalaya open up opportunities

for the entire region? What are the challenges that you see for the companies

setting up centers in Shillong?



Yes, this is definitely going to open up job opportunities for the people of

this region. This is the first initiative being taken by the government of this

region to invite investments in the IT sector.

The big question is, can Northeast process for India in terms

of offering better workforce? If we talk about connectivity, will this remain an

issue for the Northeast always? We believe the call from this region will be

successful in ringing the bells in the Silicon City.