TN framing hardware policy to woo investment and generate jobs

C Shivakumar @ Chennai:

Tamil Nadu government is trying to woo investments in Information technology sector by planning to come out with a hardware policy, according to official sources.

A top Information technology department official told Express that the state is wooing investment in the sector by formulating a hardware policy which will be out soon.

The focus is on microchips, internet of things, data centres  and creating jobs for the youth,” the official said.

Senior director of NASSCOM, K Purushothaman has welcomed the move by the information technology department and said that it will attract investors.

Prushothaman said that that the focus of the state government should be create more jobs through the hardware policy. “While the state has 600,000 software professionals, it hardly has 30,000 to 40,0000 hardware professionals,” he stated.

Initially, the government’s focus was software policy, now to formulate a hardware policy is a right step, he said.

The hardware policy also comes in the wake of state government implementing the scheme for distribution of laptop to the students studying in government and government-aided schools and colleges in the State to facilitate them in acquiring better computer skills.

It is learnt that the state government is also wooing firms to manufacture laptops for students in the state. The move also comes as the state is also looking at boosting the role played by domestic sector in Information technology sector. The Union Commerce and Industry Minister and Union cabinet secretary have urged the states to consider formulating guidelines for giving preference to locally manufactured goods in public procurement to provide an impetus to local manufacturing.

According a report by Deloitte, the technology industry trends driving growth this year will include cloud computing; flexible consumption; cognitive computing; user-friendly tools, apps and data.

Factfile:

1.  Tamil Nadu is planning to formulate a Hardware Policy this year

2.  The policy will focus on making the state the hardware hub

3.  TN has a strong demand for laptops and plan is to woo manufacture of laptops in the state

4.  The focus is also to build data centres and seek investment in semiconductors.