ITAAP has urged the State government to reduce the power tariff

 andhrapradesh | Written by : Suryaa Desk Updated: Sat, Jun 23, 2018, 03:34 PM

The IT Association of Andhra Pradesh (ITAAP) has urged the State government to reduce the power tariff for IT units from the present 10 to 5 per unit to attract more investments into the sector.

The national average cost of power for the IT industry was only 5 per unit and the State government should also reduce the tariff to that level.The association was working in tandem with the State government to develop Visakhapatnam as a major IT centre and to take IT to other cities and towns in the State, including the new capital, Amaravati, the new president of the association R.L Narayana told the media here on Friday. He said that in the last one year, 11.19 lakh sft plug-and-play capacity was created of which 8.34 lakh sft was allocated to 92 IT companies in the State.

The target was to double in the next two years. He also sought reduction in the bandwidth cost to attract the IT industry.O. Naresh Kumar, advisery council chairman of the association, said the Union government should reduce GST from the present 18% to 5 % to promote the domestic IT industry and the income tax should be cut from 10 % to 2 or 3%.The Central government should either declare Vizag as the IT Investment Region (ITIR) or offer major incentives in lieu of it.

He said that the Centre had agreed to give 1 lakh per seat created, provided the employer paid the ESI/PF subscription of the employee for a year, and the State government would also give an equal amount for new IT entrepreneurs coming to Visakhapatnam.This facility was available only in Vizag, he said and called upon prospective entrepreneurs to benefit from it. He said that Vizag would be the best location for setting up an IT company in India, provided the power tariff was reduced.

Lakshmi Mukkavalli, the chairperson of the Vizag chapter and the Managing Director of Patra India, said the State government should take up low-cost, medium cost housing projects to promote the sector.Patra India, which was now having 1,500 employees in Vizag, was planning to double the number in the next few years.Ravi Eswarapu, the outgoing president, said that ITAAP has launched a reverse migration portal to assist IT entrepreneurs, wanting to relocate to Vizag and A.P. This was intended to develop talent and generate employment.