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After iron, steel and mining, it’s time now for the Information Technology (IT) and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) sectors to make its presence felt in Jharkhand.

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and call centres are the new trend in the State, with around half-a-dozen enterprises queued up to set up shop at the International Incubation Facility Centre (IIFC), set up by the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), at a cost of around Rs 10 crore.

While the sudden surge has led to a space crunch at the IIFC STPI, located on a 4-acre plot with a built-up space of 14,000 sq feet, it has also prompted the State government to approach the Union Ministry of Communications and Information Technology with a proposal to set up three more STPIs.

“Just four months since its inauguration, the IIFC STPI in Ranchi has had a very encouraging response. This led us to approach the Centre to set up three more STPIs in the industrial cities of Jamshedpur and Bokaro besides Dumka in Santhal Pargana,” Industry Secretary SK Satpathy told HT.

According to Additional Director, STPI, Surya Patnaik, “Local and national ITES companies have evinced interest in setting up middle-level units in the BPO and call centre sectors at the IIFC. Jamshedpur-based Alpine Techno has already started its operations with 12 seats. It plans to increase it to 48 seats within a year.”

MdBoss-ew, Delhi, E-Octopus, Ranchi, Cysys Technologies, Bhubaneswar and 7Hills, Kolkata are the others who have implemented their pilot projects and would start their operations on the Rs 3,000-per-seat plug-and-play facility basis shortly, Patnaik said, adding talks were also on with a couple of other companies based in Gurgaon and Kolkata.

The ‘encouraging’ response notwithstanding, the absence of a direct connectivity, either by rail or air, between Jharkhand and the southern states like Hyderabad and Bangalore has affected the prospects of the IT and ITES sector in the State.

Sources revealed that the connectivity issue continues to hold back a number of investors even as those already in the sector have pointed out to the poor upkeep of approach roads to the IIFC STPI or the areas adjoining the centre.

Nevertheless, the State government aims at pitching in with its share in the IT and ITES sector, pegged to be a $24 billion industry by 2008 as per a Nasscom-McKinsey study. “A modest beginning on a right note has been made. Though Kolkata and Bhubaneswar have taken the lead, Jharkhand with its vast untapped potential would emerge as the next best destination for the two sectors in the eastern region in the next few years,” Satpathy claimed.

Email author: m.madhusudan@hindustantimes.com