Working president of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and former minister for IT & Industries K.T. Rama Rao has expressed concern over the decline in the IT and ITES exports from Telangana as also in the number of IT jobs.
In a statement, Mr. Rama Rao said on Tuesday that it would impact the State’s economic progress adversely and suggested the State government to focus on encouraging the IT sector. Taking to social media, he said the IT exports from the State were recorded at ₹26,948 crore in 2023-24 against ₹57,706 crore in 2022-23.
At the same time, IT employment creation had also recorded a decline, the BRS leader said, adding that against 1,27,594 new jobs created in 2022-23 only 40,285 jobs were provided in 2023-24. The previous BRS government had taken several measures to improve the IT sector during the last 6-7 years, including the single window system, TS-iPASS and special policy for the IT sector.
It was Hyderabad that had recorded the highest IT sector growth rate over the last 6-7 years and the BRS government has put in efforts to turn it into the IT sector centre in the country. However, after the change of government in December last, the Congress that had come to power had been neglecting the IT sector.
He cautioned the government that neglect of the IT sector further would adversely impact the economic and employment generation in Telangana . He requested the State government to give priority to the IT and ITES sectors as they had the potential to create large-scale employment to the educated youth. The focus should be on improving the infrastructure and enforcing law and order effectively, Mr. Rama Rao suggested.
On medicine seats
In a separate statement, Mr. Rama Rao expressed concern over the government attitude in the matter of local status in admissions to medicine colleges. Finding fault with GO 33 guidelines for deciding the local status, he said that as per it only those who studied Classes IX-XII in Telangana would become locals and it would mostly benefit the students of other States.
As Hyderabad is the house for prestigious educational institutions, many students from other States come here to pursue their education. He noted that as per the norms in vogue till the issuance of GO 33, the local status was decided based on the maximum four years study from Classes VI to XII till 2023-24 academic year. He appealed to the government to withdraw the new guidelines as they would make Telangana students who pursue Intermediate (Plus Two) course outside the State as non-locals here for admission into medicine.