The central government, which has approved the project, will provide funds to build world-class infrastructure, including road and rail connectivity, telecom and power.

As a joint initiative of the central and state governments to attract major investments in the IT sector, a part of the integrated project will be demarcated for the development of IT/IT-enabled services and electronic hardware manufacturing units.

Noting that Bengaluru has also emerged as the start-ups capital, next only to the U.S Silicon Valley, Siddaramaiah said many of them have started operating in data analytics, cloud computing and mobility space, auguring well for the digital economy.

“The outcome of the start-ups initiative of the state government in association with the IT industry representative body Nasccom has been positive and encouraging,” the chief minister noted.

Referring to the ‘Karnataka i-4’ policy announced by the state government last year, Siddaramaiah said the novel initiative was aimed at giving a thrust to the growth of the IT sector in the tier-two and tier-three cities across the state.

The Vision Group on IT, headed by Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, has been providing valuable inputs to the state government in taking up initiatives for the growth of IT in tier-2 and tier-3 cities across the state.

The IT growth story of India is led by Karnataka, thanks to skilled professionals, dynamic entrepreneurs, a vibrant eco-system, and industry-friendly policies of the state, which accounts for 30 percent of the country’s IT exports.

The state has contributed IT exports valued at 1.80 lakh crore in 2013-14 fiscal.

Of the three million (30 lakh) software professionals in the IT sector across the country, about one million (10 lakh) are in Karnataka alone.

The IT industry contributes about 20 percent to the state’s gross domestic product.

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