Himachal – an ideal IT destination

By: Avnish Katoch

NASSCOM PROJECTIONS: Rs. 20,000 crores by 2010.

INCOME TAX HOLIDAY for 5 years and 30% rebate for 5 years thereafter (even if you are liable to be taxed elsewhere in the country as happened recently in January, 2004).

• 15% CAPITAL SUBSIDY on P&M: Maximum of Rs. 30 lacs

• N X 2 MBPS CONNECTIVITY from almost every major town in the State as OFC network has been laid across the State. Total OFC length in the State is about 5000 kms. (highest per square km. density of OFC) in the entire country. There is also an option of STPI, Power Grid Corporation.

• NO SALES TAX ON IT/BT PRODUCTS.

• UNINTERRUPTED AND CHEAP POWER SUPPLY (< Rs. 3 per unit) – so no power cuts and no need for long UPS back ups and generators.

• SALUBRIOUS CLIMATE – far from the madding crowd. This is just the right place for you to concentrate hard for writing most difficult of algorithms!!

• EXCELLENT ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS. Himachal was “The Summer Capital of India” during British period. So there is no dearth of good convent schools.

• IT PARK SOON COMING UP near Shimla (sprawled over an area of more than 100 acres) · EXCELLENT ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE : You can maintain an average speed of about two times of what you can in Bangalore or Mumbai or Hyderabad.

• A vast pool of TALENTED IT PROFESSIONALS: Despite small population, we still have tens of thousands of young eminently suitable for ITES/ BPO for even highly skilled jobs of insurance, telemedicine, banking etc.

• LOW CAPITAL COST AND RECURRING COST including rentals (about Rs. 10 per sqft. right in the heart of Shimla). There may be no need of air conditioning. Highly talented IT professionals can be hired at very reasonable rates.

• GOOD QUALITY OF LIFE TOP CLASS SCHOOLING FACILITIES

• ZERO CENTRAL EXCISE DUTY for those who also want to bring in a hardware unit too.

• JOB ATTRITION RATE ALMOST NIL: Unlike other IT capitals in the country, the problem of job-hopping in HP is virtually non-existent. Himachalis love their land and we are sure that you also would!

STPI Shimla

STPI Shimla Earth station has an independent international gateway with
a redundant OFC backbone. The Gateway is capable of multiple carrier operation and has scaleable configuration. The location of the earth station is such that it is in the line of sight from various locations in and around Shimla.

1) soft POINT (IPLCs)

Our International Private Leased Circuits (IPLCs) connect customers in India to anywhere in the world for their data requirements.

2) soft LINK (Internet Services)

Soft LINK is a TCP/IP based internet service developed specially to cater to the enterprise and the ISP segment of the software business. STPI Shimla provides these services on both Radio and OFC media.

3) Incubation

Incubators provide the necessary help to nurture technology especially in Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) into commercial successes.

4) Clearances

All approvals for software export are given under single window clearance mechanism evolved by STPI specially for 100% EOU.

Contact Address
Secretary Information Technology and Bio Technology
Room # 231, Armsdale Building
H.P. Secretariat, Shimla-171
Fax: +91-177 – 2628625
Email: itsecy@hp.nic.in , ssit@hp.nic.in

Software Technology Parks Of India
93/1, Boileugang,
Shimla 171005. H.P.
Phone : +91-177 -2832679,
Tele fax: +91- 177 – 2832680,