AP IT Policy 2021-24 released; state to woo firms from across the globe

Visakhapatnam: The state government on Friday officially released the Andhra Pradesh Information Technology Policy for 2021-2024 for addressing the current needs of the state’s IT sector.

The previous policy, developed by the TD government, ended in March 2020. The policy would be valid retrospectively from 1 April 2021 till 31 March 2024.

Principal secretary Jaya Lakshmi said the Indian market for the IT and IT-enabled services was as huge as $191 billion (Rs 14.3 lakh crores) in year 2019-20 and this size is expected to increase to $350 billion (Rs 26.2 lakh crore) by 2025, driven by growth from tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

The AP Electronics and Information Technology Agency (APEITA) will be the nodal agency for implementing the policy. It plays a key role in aspects like incentive approvals, land, and ‘plug and play’ space allotment to companies.

“In view of generating large scale employment in the IT sector, the state government evolved a holistic policy framework to compete with other states," Lakshmi said.

Currently, the state is home to more than 45,000 employees in the IT sector, forming a major portion of the IT workforce in the country.

A functionary at an IT company at Vizag said the new policy is better, compared with the previous one, but the government must act without any delay in issuing the clearances for new incentives.

“Since, chief minister Jaganmohan Reddy is keen on developing Vizag as the IT capital, the new policy would be apt for all categories such as start-ups to giant IT firms across the globe,” said the CEO of an IT company in the city.

Some of the objectives of the policy include creating an industry-ready talent pool and fulfilling the demand for skilled IT manpower, facilitating the creation of co-working space and satellite centers to enable seamless start of operations for IT units, and encouraging adoption of latest global trends in IT business models such as Work from Home.