Instead of going for the big-bang approach, we have taken the path of focused, customised and targeted strategy to get IT investment in Chhattisgarh, Aman Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary – Chief Minister, Energy, Electronics & Information Technology, Government of Chhattisgarh, tells Souvik Goswami of Elets News Network (ENN) in an interview.
What is your strategy to woo investors for making investment in the IT sector in the State of Chhattisgarh?
We have adopted a different strategy to get IT investment in the State. Instead of going for a big bang, carpet bombing approach, we have taken the path of focused, customised and targeted strategy. We are trying to reach out to the target segment directly. That is the reason we organised “Opportunity Chhattisgarh 2015” recently in Raipur. The State’s Chief Minister, Raman Singh, also went to Mumbai recently to address the Executive Council of NASSCOM. The same day, we also invited them (NASSCOM members) to hold a meeting. Similarly, he attended a meeting in Bengaluru as well. In short, we are focusing on the target segments directly and reaching out to them by having a direct connect with them.
Do you think that the State has the right measures in place for attracting investment by IT majors?
Aman Kumar Singh,
Principal Secretary- Chief Minister, Energy, Electronics & Information Technology, Government of Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh is trying its best to create the right kind of ecosystem for attracting investment. Be it physical infrastructure, social infrastructure, cost advantage or availability of manpower — all these together make too formidable a combination for any company to ignore Raipur as an investment destination.
Naya Raipur is coming up as the first green field smart city of the country. What are your plans for this mega project?
It is the first green field smart city project of India. It will be a model for the rest of the country. We are giving attractive incentives to the companies interested in investing in Naya Raipur. Not only this, we are also focusing on a new kind of approach, wherein we can customise the terms of investments as per their requirement in case huge investments are going to flow in.
Naya Raipur will have some unique features, which are not available in any other city of the country so far. For example, there we will have unified utility bills facility. That is, unlike the present practice of generating separate bills for electricity, water, telephone, etc., we are trying to bring them all on one platform. Once that starts, every consumer will get a single bill, where all these bills will be integrated. Also, one would also be able to pay such bills through app or online, apart from the traditional mode.
What is your vision for eGovernance in the country?
Talking about eGovernance, with the advent of technology, particularly with the mobile apps, we are witnessing a second wave of Government to Citizen (G2C) services being offered by various government departments. This will further enhance the quality as well accountability of the services.