ANDHRA PRADESH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT REGION (AP ITIR)

To promote investment in Information Technology (IT), Information Technology enabled services (ITES) and electronic hardware manufacturing (EHM) units, the Government of India has envisaged a transparent and an investment friendly policy for setting up Information Technology Investment Regions (ITIRs) – a Gazette notification dated 28.05.2008 published a policy resolution for setting up of ITIRs.

There has been an increasing recognition of the importance of policy initiatives, enabling legislation and conducive regulatory environment in facilitating growth of economic activity. The Information Technology Investment Regions (ITIRs) is such an initiative being encouraged by the Government of India – different states are at various stages of planning these investment regions.

Based on the policy guidelines of the central government, the government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP) had notified Information Technology and Communications (IT&C) department as the nodal department for ITIR development in Andhra Pradesh. IT&C department had prepared and submitted a detailed Project Proposal for approval to the central government in January 2010. The Andhra Pradesh ITIR proposal was then presented to a High Powered Committee (HPC) at the GoI level, in August 2012, for final approval. The HPC has recommended AP ITIR for In-Principle approval and suggested that a Detailed Project Report (DPR) shall be submitted for Final Approval from Cabinet Committee for Economic Affairs (CCEA).

Two years after the Andhra Pradesh State government sent its proposal for ITIR and clarified to the observations made by ministries concerned such as Information Technology, Commerce, Industries, Railways, Finance and Environment etc., the High-Powered Committee (HPC) headed by Union Cabinet Secretary recommended in-principle approval to the APITIR project in August 2012. In September 2013, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs(CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved ITIR near Hyderabad subject to certain conditions.