Telangana IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao for exploring new opportunities in post-Covid world

Telangana’s Information Technology Minister K.T. Rama Rao has suggested to Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to set up a task force to scout for new opportunities that will evolve in post-Covid world.

Participating in a video conference the Union Minister had with the state IT ministers, Rama Rao expressed the view that this adversity presents great opportunities.

Stating that India has the capacity to quickly develop tech solutions for post-Covid world, he called for giving an aggressive push to the electronics manufacturing sector.

He also sought a help desk at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) for coordinating/liaison with Income Tax (IT) and Goods and Services Tax (GST) offices for expediting the IT and GST refunds.

KTR, as Rama Rao is popularly known, as per financial year 2018-19, the IT industry in Hyderabad has 5,43,033 employees working in 1,500 companies with annual exports at Rs 1,09,219 crore.

He said more than 95 per cent of the IT/ITeS companies are operating on Work From Home (WFH) model.

Very limited vehicle passes have been issued on a case by case basis for essential operations in the IT sector such as data centre maintenance, payroll, support services for healthcare and pharma, etc. Rest of the employees are working from home and the movement of hardware has been facilitated, he said.

The three Police Commissionerates (Cyberabad, Hyderabad, and Rachakonda) are working very closely with the IT sector for ensuring the WFH and movement of IT/ ITeS essential services.

KTR briefed Prasad on the steps taken by the state government to help citizens including IT employees and services providers during the lockdown.

He also explained various initiatives using technology support for Covid-19 management.

The minister also spoke about the innovations in the state for Covid-19 management. A Telangana-based start-up has evolved a Covid test kit and it is approved by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Two or three startups are working on Personal Protection Equipments (PPEs), gloves, and goggles.

A low-cost working ventilator has also been developed by TWorks, a unique initiative of the Government of Telangana along with IIT Hyderabad, IIIT Hyderabad, several MNCs and startups.