IT sector employment generation increasing in Odisha

The Odisha government today said the IT sector has taken a giant leap since its formation 17 years ago with the employment generation increasing from 1,500 in the year 2000 to 17,000 in 2017.

"The IT sector generated employment for 1,500 professionals only in 2000. In 2014 the figure reached 9,800 and now the number is 17,000," Electronics and IT Minister Chandra Sarathi Behera told reporters here.

Behera said IT exports from the state stood at a meagre Rs 91 crore in the year 2000. It increased to Rs 3,400 crore in 2016-17.

The minister also said a number of major IT companies expanded their development centres in Bhubaneswar in last three years.

Following expansion programmes, these major IT companies had created an additional employment of 4,700 IT professionals in the state.

A new BPO policy is likely to be rolled out this year in order to promote the BPO sector in the state and also to to create more job opportunities, he said.

Two new BPO companies have already started functioning in the state, he added.

IT Special Economic Zones were established at Infocity and Infovalley in order to facilitate IT industries in the state, Behera said.

Four new STPI centres would be set up at Angul, Jajpur, Sambalpur and Jeypore by March 2019, Behera added.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)