The News Minute| August 1, 2014| 10.20 pm ISTThe Andhra Pradesh government Friday decided to develop a mega Information Technology hub in Visakhapatnam, also known as Vizag. This was envisaged in the IT policy 2014-2020 approved by the state cabinet Friday at its meeting, chaired by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.The cabinet also decided to develop metro rail project in the coastal city.IT Minister P. Raghunath Reddy said IT hubs would be created at Vijayawada, Kakinada, Tirupati and Anantapur with walk to work and cycle to work concepts.Describing it as the most progressive and investor-friendly policy, he said it would focus on enhancement of quality technical education with updation of syllabus in the technical institutes to meet the industry standards.The government will develop IT towers, IT parks and IT zones under Public Private Partnership (PPP) modeThe government proposes development of Information Technology and Investment Regions (ITIRs) in Visakhapatnam and Tirupati initially. The Tirupati-Anantapur corridor will be proposed at a later phase.Describing mega projects as those which can create employment of 5,000 or more in five years, the policy offered a rebate on the cost of the land to them at Rs.60,000 per employee. Other IT projects will get a rebate of Rs.40,000 per employee. Those setting up operations in leased premises will get rental subsidy of Rs.10 per square foot per month for three years.A highly empowered single window clearance is proposed for granting approvals and clearances with centralized help desk on 24x7 basis to reduce time and cost to set up business. A rule is proposed so that in case the required approvals are not granted within four weeks of receipt of an application in full shape, the approval shall deemed to have been given.The government exempted IT industry from labour laws and the Shops and Establishments Act. It also declared IT industry as essential service under essential services maintenance Act.The IT industry has also been exempted from statutory power cuts. All IT industrial areas/ IT layouts/zones/corridors including electronic manufacturing clusters and ITIR delinated processing areas will be declared as Industrial Area Local Authority (IALA).An empowered mission for electronics and IT promotion would be established to give fillip to the sector.Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) will get power subsidy of 25 percent while SC/ST and women entrepreneurs will get 50 percent subsidy.SMES will also get 50 percent reimbursement of exhibition stall rental as market development assistance and recruitment/training assistance at Rs.20,000 per IT professional employed within a period of two years.All turnkey projects with an outlay upto Rs.5 crore to be undertaken by the government will be reserved for MSMEs registered and operating in Andhra Pradesh.With IANS