Manipur has been a trouble spot for some time. But now there is a silver lining on the economic front. It is all set to get its first SEZ. The state has earmarked 27 acres of land and engaged Accenture to prepare a detailed project report. Besides IT-enabled services, the SEZ will be self-contained with a hotel, health centre, greenhouse as well as service apartments so that the employees can work and stay on the premises. Setting up an industry will open the door for other industries to move into the state and will take it forward. An It industry will be most suitable as it is not bound by the environment and does not require much infrastructure. There is of course insufficiency of power. It has been proposed that a separate substation will be set up within the IT complex ensuring round the clock power supply.
Accenture is also expected to help the Manipur government set up BPOs within the SEZ. According to its survey, the BPO industry in India draws 25% of its employees from Manipur. Given the right opportunities, Manipuris working at BPOs elsewhere should come back to their home state. In January, a team of Manipur government officials visited IT concerns in Bangalore. A NASSCOM team will visit Manipur next week to consider the feasibility of setting up IT-enabled services in Imphal. The plan is to attract a big company like Infosys or Wipro. The state has plans to invest Rs. 300-500 crore in the project which will take two to three years to be operational. All this is still on the drawing board. One is waiting for the Assembly election results. The SEZ has to be okayed by the Centre and its fate depends on the Centre’s relations with the new state government. One other thing. An SEZ is usually export-oriented. That does not apply to the Manipur project.
