Shri Jibesh Kumar, Hon’ble Minister, Department of IT, Government of Bihar: Exhorting and welcoming Indian and foreign IT & Electronics hardware manufacturing companies to open up factories in Bihar
There are noticeable shifts in the attitudes of the newly formed Government of Bihar, which increasingly look to be undertaking aggressive moves towards creating enabling environment for Indian and foreign IT companies to set up their operations in the state. While, software services and ITeS (IT enabled services) sectors have been the obvious focus areas of the government, IT & electronics hardware manufacturing has strongly emerged on its priority list.
In an interaction with Md Qaisar Alam of Digital Edge, on the sidelines of 28th Convergence India Expo 2021 held in New Delhi, Shri Jibesh Kumar, Hon’ble Minister, Department of IT, Government of Bihar, has said that he invites – from the depths of his heart – IT & electronics manufacturing companies to establish their bases in the state. “We’ll provide everything required by hardware manufacturing firms willing to establish their factories in the state”. On the infrastructure front, Bihar has progressed a lot – be it road, power supply, broadband connectivity or any other essential amenity.
The Government of Bihar has identified some geographical areas, which would especially be developed for hardware manufacturing purposes. The Central, Southern & South-Western parts of the state – with their less humid climatic conditions – are being evaluated for setting up hardware manufacturing zones. “Places like Sasaram and Gaya lying along four lanes are being actively considered to have hardware manufacturing clusters”, said the Hon’ble Minister. He further revealed that a slew of airports are to be developed in those hardware manufacturing zones. “We make sure that investing companies get world class transportation infrastructure, education facilities, hospitals, malls and recreational centres in those areas. We invite them all to approach us with their plans and investment proposals – the early movers would pick up favourable deals. We make sure they harness attractive profitability”, accentuated, the Hon’ble Minister.
So, companies engaged in manufacturing IT products including PCs (including laptops, desktops), UPS systems, networking gears, structured cabling systems (including fiber cables) and other data centre products can find Bihar Government’s invitation quite attractive. Telecom equipment and mobile phone manufacturers can also find the offer quite palpable. The INVITING BIHAR can also bring in opportunities to electronics and consumer durable manufacturing entities. The kind of enthusiasm shown by the state government suggests that Bihar can offer even better value proposition to hardware product companies, which states like Himachal Pradesh (HP), Puducherry and Goa carry to them. Bihar appears to be ready to walk extra miles for hardware design & manufacturing companies to set up their operations in the state.
Jason Lin of Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) in India: Eager to pitch in Bihar with Taiwanese hardware manufacturing companies
In the hardware manufacturing sector, there are many Indian as well as foreign companies (mainly from US, South-Korea, China, Japan and France), which can set up their operations in Bihar, but firms from Taiwan can play bigger roles. This Far-Eastern country is home to some of leading names in the technology manufacturing space. Companies like Acer, D-Link, Delta Electronics, Optoma and CyberPower among others have been present in the Indian market for years now. Even in the semiconductor manufacturing space, Taiwan holds great promise for the state of Bihar. Jason Lin of Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) in India believes that many of Taiwan’s technology companies can show interest in establishing their bases in Bihar. “I would surely convey this message to Taiwan’s hardware manufacturing companies that Bihar BEACONS THEM”.
IT & ITeS Opportunities in Bihar
With respect to software and ITeS companies, the Hon’ble Minister has pitched in Bihar hard at the 28th Convergence Indian Expo. “Bihar is determined to ensure the implementation of policies of ease-of-doing-business, hand crafted by the current government, to develop IT & ITeS industry for inclusive and overall socio-economic growth in the state. The state has a pool of talent with abundant skilled workers backed by finest educational institutes. We’re sure this will provide the business houses an opportunity to reduce their cost and increase profits. In an ongoing effort we’re taking various policy and regulatory reforms, and are sure Bihar would be one of the preferred choices for the industry”, said the Hon’ble Minister.
The state of Bihar is blooming with projects, currently three IT parks are under construction including 33 Acres IT park at Bihta with seamless network connectivity, A 110 acres IT park in Rajgir with three phases development of electronic manufacturing hub and well established connectivity and the IT Tower in Patna with 90000 Sq feet proposed built up area. An incubation center at BIT, Patna with floor area of 10000 Sq meter is already functional in the field of medical electronics to support startups in medical electronics.
For the Startup ecosystem, the government of Bihar has taken number of initiatives and more than 900 start-ups have been assigned for 100 percent free of cost incubation to state notified incubation centers. The state received 5,591 applications on Bihar start-up portal for certification and state govt. has organized more than 100 outreach programs. In the state, 104 start-ups are incubated and 53 certified start-ups are availing fiscal benefits under the state start-ups policy.
The state government has also established a startup hub in Patna as a technology innovation and incubation zone in the state to promote innovation, incubation, and entrepreneurship, where startups will have access to plug-and-play infrastructure, quality power, seamless internet connectivity at subsidised rates, and much-needed services in consulting, training, implementation, incubation and statutory compliances. “The technology sector in Bihar has the potential for creating a lot of jobs for the youth of the state. In the very beginning of the government formation, we promised the creation of over 19 lakh jobs in the state. I trust, a large chunk of them would come from the technology sector alone”, viewed the Hon’ble Minister, Shri Jibesh Kumar.
Moreover, the government of Bihar is ensuring the provision of time-bound single window clearance mechanisms for faster processing of applications of lT/ ITeS projects in the State, and approval and disbursement of incentives under the Bihar Industrial Investment Promotion Policy 2016. The state government has set up an investor facilitation cum project management unit (PMU) under the Department of Information Technology, Government of Bihar.
Qaisar
