IT exports from AP grow 10% to Rs. 1,364.5 cr in FY21

STPI initiatives

• IT exports from STPI units account for Rs 883 cr

• STPI and RINL to set up a CoE in Vizag with Rs 20 cr

• CoE at Vizag Steel Plant to nurture 175 startups in 5 yrs

Hyderabad: Despite the impact of Covid-19 pandemic-led restrictions, the information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services (ITeS) exports grew steadily in Andhra Pradesh during the last few years. The overall IT exports from the State registered an exceptional 10 per cent growth to reach Rs 1,364.5 crore during financial year 2020-21 against previous fiscal.

"Out of this, the IT exports from Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) units alone accounted for Rs 883 crore," STPI (Hyderabad), Director, CVD Ram Prasad said. "Both STPI units and those from IT/ITeS special economic zones (SEZ) together provided direct employment to 16,637 people during FY 2020-21 with 16 per cent growth over previous fiscal."

He further said that only the STPI units alone offered direct employment for 10,267 people in FY 2020-21. He anticipated similar growth in exports during the current financial year also due to several initiatives to support the IT startups in Andhra Pradesh, post pandemic.

The STPI partnered with Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) to set up a Centre of Entrepreneurship (CoE) in Industry 4.0 technologies at Vizag Steel Plant campus with an outlay of Rs 20.32 crore. It will play a key role in bolstering research, innovation, product development and empowering startups to build innovative products to address the challenges of various industries. With the support of the Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY), Government of AP and collaboration with industry and educational institutions such as Andhra University and Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Vizag, the CoE will nurture around 175 innovative startups over a period of five years.

Also, the STPI has recently announced plans to establish an incubation centre on Andhra University premises with a budget of Rs 19.75 crore. "We are waiting for the varsity to provide a half-acre land in the campus to build 25,000-sft building to mentor the startups from the IT/ ITeS sector that provide technological solutions to different domains," Ram Prasad said.

Next Generation Incubation Scheme (NGIS) is a futuristic scheme launched by the MeitY and implemented by the STPI at selected 12 locations across the country. The NGIS focuses on innovative IT start-ups from tier-2 cities across India, including Vijayawada in AP, as one of the locations, the STPI director said.

"With a budgetary outlay of Rs 95.03 crore over the next three years, the scheme targets to incentivise 300 innovative startups with seed-fund of up to Rs 25 lakh each. Out of 42 startups selected through Chunauti 1.0 (NGIS Challenge Contest) for seed funding/ stipend under NGIS across India, eight are from Vijayawada and other cities of AP," he said.

Under the India BPO Promotion Scheme (IBPS) of Digital India Programme, the MeitY provides financial support to eligible companies for establishing business process outsourcing (BPO) units in tier-2 and tier-3 cities with an objective of creating employment opportunities for the local youth and promoting investment in IT/ITeS sector to expand the base of IT industry. He further said, "AP was one of the maximum beneficiaries under the IBPS with 30 successful bidders approved to establish 46 BPO/ITeS units with 13,692 seats. Viability Gap Funding (VGF) of Rs 14.43 crore has been already disbursed/ approved to these units under the scheme. AP stands ahead of other States in terms of new employment generation under this scheme."