Coimbatore : Coimbatore will be among the cities where Tamil Nadu government will encourage ELCOSEZ, IT and ITLES Special Economic Zone as per the new the Information Communication Technology Policy of the government unveiled here on Monday.

Chief Minister Edapaddi Palaniswamy said the other cities where these facilities will come up include, Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchy, Salem, Tirunelveli and Hosur. The new policy will encourage start ups in the field of IT and ITES as well.

Lands have also been allocated to different companies like Wipro, HCL, Ford Motors, Cognizant Technologies Solutions, Sutherland Global Services Ltd. Under the SEZs are functioning and hundreds of employees are working there.

Speaking after announcing the policy, the Chief Minister said the new policy will give several incentives to power the growth of IT and ITES. These include administrative, fiscal incentives, capital subsidies, tax exemptions and special incentives.

The Chief Minister said he was happy to note that IT and ITES exports from Tamil Nadu grew 8.55 per cent in 2017-18 to Rs 1111.79 billion.

Industry leaders from Tamil Nadu said the state’s exports in the segment had been growing at a higher rate than the national average and that was a good sign for industries in the state. The IT industry’s average growth rate for India, according to industry body Nasscom, is around seven per cent.

The policy note of the IT department of the state government said estimated investment in the IT and ITeS industry grew to an estimated Rs 399.81 billion during 2017-18.