After India’s commendable jump in the Global Innovation Index (GII) this week and Bengaluru being included in the index of top 100 science & technology hotspots, Karnataka Government announced its new IT Policy 2020-2025. The government aims to improve the state’s IT industry’s contribution to India’s trillion-dollar digital economy vision by at least 30 percent. The decisions comes after the recent announcement of the state’s new Industrial Policy, and in a similar manner,

incentives are mostly tethered to districts (zones) and is set up in a manner wherein industries investing outside Bengaluru receives more benefits.

In addition, the government also proclaims that the new IT policy is poised to create around 60 lakh direct and indirect jobs over the next five years, which will not be focused on Bengaluru alone, but will spread across new regions outside Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts. Furthermore, the government has also approved a Special Incentives Scheme for Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector, aiming to bring in the industries that are moving out from China amidst the current predicaments.

Karnataka is always known as a center of hi-tech industry, contributing significantly to the country’s revenues from information technology, biotechnology, ESDM, aerospace and other technology sectors. The state also hosts the R&D and innovation centers of the best and the largest global companies across sectors. Additionally, Karnataka is the second largest chip design hub in the country with a presence of close to 100 chip designing companies and was the first state to rollout initiatives for innovation centers, skilling centers and dedicated ESDM clusters. According to the government reports, around 3000 personnel are trained annually in the KESDM sector.