Dotting many of the IT parks across the state are arbitrary establishments that have nothing to do with information or technology, but a lot with exploiting benefits provided under IT policy

While one could gasp at the amount of space -- on land and in news headlines -- that upcoming and existent info-tech enterprises have grabbed, it has emerged that not as much is actually being done for what is touted as the driving force in scripting India's success story. Many of the Information Technology parks across the city and on the outskirts are now housing a number of shops and other establishments that have nothing to do with IT, in contravention to the rules governing land meant for IT parks.



MiD DAY found that while establishments like ayurvedic outlets, watch and leather stores have opened shop in certain IT parks in Navi Mumbai, and other unrelated companies can also be found sharing the space reserved for IT.u00a0

Sanjay Chaturvedi, executive editor, Accommodation Times, said, "According to NASCOM, we require to generate 5 million jobs by 2015 in the IT industry. If IT parks are used for purposes other than for which they were constructed, 5 million jobs may get wasted in the economy. Only big IT companies from abroad can generate such a massive scale of economic growth by investing in India." Many others have voiced their concerns (see 'Expertspeak').

Out of line
When the government gave the green light to develop IT parks it was understood that these would have IT establishments and allied services, which include outsourcing of processes that can be enabled with IT and covers diverse areas like finance, HR, administration, health care and telecommunicaions etc in conjunction with technology.

A few years later, after the IT park boom, the IT industry saw a slack period. It is believed that IT park owners then gave out the land to other establishments that have nothing to do with IT. These commercial businesses are subsequently reaping special benefits meant for IT parks.u00a0u00a0

According to data available from the industry department (copy with MiD DAY) of the state government, approximately 100 IT parks located in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane and Pune have been registered with it since 2002 until March this year. And another 340 have been issued the Letter of Intent in the said areas.

"As per the norms, a developer has to first obtain the letter of intent for constructing an IT park to avail certain exemptions. On completion of the construction work, as per the prescribed norms under the IT policy, the developer may or may not register the IT park with the industry department. The local civic body is responsible to keep a check on the usage of the space," said an official from the industry department, Mantralaya.

Himadri Mayank, assistant vice-president, Research and Real Estate Intelligence Service at Jones Lang LaSalle India, said, "Mumbai and NCR-Delhi are the only two major cities in the country where non-IT space constitutes more than a third of city's total office stock. Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata have 55-65 per cent of office space devoted to IT. Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are gradually becoming operational and constitute 17 per cent of the total operational stock."

Big money, big spaceu00a0
A city-based real estate broker, who also operates in Navi Mumbai and Pune, said IT park rates could vary between Rs 1-1.60 lakh per sq m in Mumbai. However, the same can be between Rs 35,000-60,000 per sq m in Navi Mumbai, and Rs 40,000-70,000 pr sq m in Pune. Hence, at the average of Rs 50,000 per sq m, the cost would cross Rs 20,000 crore for the nearly 4 crore sq m of IT Park in the three municipalities.

"Maharashtra accounts for more than 30 per cent of the country's software exports, with over 1,200 software units based in the state, thus providing a familiar and friendly environment to IT companies. The whole state has been connected through an optical fibre cable network; a statewide network of competent training institutions has been established for building a pool of world-class IT professionals in order to provide strength and support to the IT sector in the state. Besides, the state government has framed an IT policy to make Maharashtra the most-favoured destination for investments in the IT and ITES industry, which was amended thrice," said another Mantralaya official.

The Maharashtra IT/ITES policy was revised thrice since its inception in 1998. Initially only IT companies could avail of benefits under the policy or have offices in IT parks, but in 2003, an amendment provided wider scope and 80 per cent of IT companies and 20 per cent ITES services could avail of the facilities and have offices in IT parks. In 2009, the policy allowed 50 per cent IT companies, 30 per cent ITES and 20 per cent support services to avail of the benefits.

Consequences
According to a senior Mantralaya official, at present, there is no governing body other than the local civic body, which as per the Development Control Regulations, allows the developer to carry out construction.

"We are not the authority to check if there is any misuse of IT park across the state. If at all anybody brings to our notice any such violation, we can ask the local civic body to look into the matter and take the necessary action. If even a single unit in the IT park is found doing non-IT related activity as mentioned in the IT policy, the project could even lose the IT park status, and penalty could be imposed on the developer. The civic body can take action for violation of FSI."

Attempts made to contact state Industry Minister Narayan Rane did not yield any result as he was in Kankavli in Konkan.

Findings from the field
MiD DAY visited some of the IT Parks and found they were housing services and firms that have nothing to do with information or technology. Some of the proprietors of these alternative producers/services either dodged our questions, or claimed ignorance of the law. Only a few had answers.


Name: Infotech Park
Location: Belapur railway station, Navi Mumbai
Unit: Patanjali Chikitsalayu00a0(Baba Ramdev)
Response: Mukesh Upadhyay, a partner in Pantanjali Chikitsalay, said, "We were using the unit for selling automobile spare parts initially when we bought two outlets. However, we changed our business and decided
to have a franchise of Patanjali, and since last three years we have been running this Chikitsalaya as a social
service." Upadhayay even claimed of having intimated CIDCO of the usage of IT space for the mentioned purposes. However, he could not produce any documents for verification.


Name: Technopolis Knowledge IT Park
Location: Chakala, Andheri
Unit: M/s Castrol India Pvt Limited
Response: MiD DAY sent an e-mail to the company on the issue, but did not get any response at the time of going to press


Name: Real Tech Park
Location: Sector 30 A Vashi, Navi Mumbai
Unit: Watch World (wrist watch outlet)
Response: A manager at the outlet said they were on rent and refused to speak further.
However, adjacent to his shop was another watch outlet, Just in Time, whose owner, Jayesh Jadhod, said, "I started this retail outlet three months ago. The premises were rented after an appropriate lease agreement with the owner of the property, Real Tech Park. I do not know anything about IT policy."