Gandhinagar, June 11: IN a bid to give the Information Technology (IT) sector a big boost, the State Government has cleared land proposals of at least five prominent IT companies to set up mega IT parks on the sprawling 160 acres of land on the outskirts of Gandhinagar.

Among companies that have already been allotted land for setting up IT parks are Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), ICICI Bank, US-based Syntel Inc, Mumbai-based Patni Computers and e-Infochip. Two more IT giants — Satyam and Wipro — are also reportedly evincing a keen interest in setting up IT and IT-enabled service parks in the same place. Besides this, some private developers including real estate players like DLF and Raheja have acquired land and initiated the process of setting up IT parks and SEZs near Gandhinagar and on the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Highway. In fact, Raheja has already started construction work and creating necessary infrastructure facility on 90 acres of land for an IT SEZ at Koba near Gandhinagar.

When contacted, Secretary (Science and Technology) Raj Kumar told the Express Newsline on Monday that Adani Group had also acquired 50 acres to develop IT/ITES SEZ behind the Nirma University on the S G Highway, while real estate giant DLF has been allotted 26 acres near Gandhinagar to develop an IT park. Raheja and Adani Group have already been given approval to develop IT parks in SEZ. DLF’s application for IT SEZ approval is still pending with the Centre.

Kumar said that even TCS, which is developing a mega IT park on 25 acres of land, would soon apply for SEZ status for the park.The Government is in discussion with Satyam which proposes to set up an IT park on 26 acres of land, while parleys are on with Wipro, too.

“When mega IT parks become operational in the next two years or so, they will generate over 1 lakh jobs”, he said.

The IT parks being developed by Raheja and ICICI Bank alone would create 40,000 and 25,000 jobs, while the one to be set up by DLF will generate another 20,000 jobs for youths, the official said, adding that ICICI Bank has drawn up plans to create a western regional financial processing hub that will carry out transactions related to loans, accounts and other financial services. The bank has also plans to shift its western region call centre from Mumbai to Gandhinagar once its mega IT project is completed.

“Unless we have top class mega IT/ITES parks coming up near Gandhinagar and elsewhere in the State, we will not be able to create the right kind of work environment for young software engineers in the State,” Kumar said, adding that to encourage more IT companies to set up shop here, the Government has requested Union Ministry of Communication and Information Technology to allot at least four more STPIs (Software Technology Park of India) one each in Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar.

One STPI already exists in Gandhinagar.

Courtesy: Expressindia.com

Sina Corp, one of China's top Internet portals, and Google Inc said on Monday they would cooperate on news, advertising and search services in China, the world's second-largest online community.

The partnership would initially allow Google users easier access to Sina's news content, the two companies said. They did not reveal any financial details of the agreement.

"In the future, we can explore cooperation in advertising and search, and other areas," Lee Kai-Fu, the president of Google in Greater China, told reporters. The two said details about how the cooperation would proceed were still being worked out.

Although Google and Yahoo have been making inroads into China, analysts have said that domestic operators such as Sohu.com, Baidu and Alibaba held an obvious cultural and first-mover edge.

Courtesy: Expressindia.com