Announcing this at the inaugural function of the three-day international software business conference `Nasscom'99 here on Wednesday, department of electronics secretary Ravindra Gupta said the government would soon formulate a Limited Partnership Act on the lines of the US Act for easy availability of funds to the IT units. At present, that the financing through venture capital fund comes under the Trust Act.

Gupta said the finance would be made available to entrepreneurs without any collateral, security or stock. "Our objective is to facilitate more funding through venture capital fund to entrepreneurs," he said.

The draft of the proposedcyber law has been prepared and sent to the union human resources development ministry. He said the necessary bill suggesting stringent punishment for cyber-related crimes will be tabled in the ensuing budget session of the parliament.

He said the revised tariff structure will be soon released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. He also announced that the report submitted by a panel on the knowledge-based industry, headed by Infosys chairman NR Narayanmurthy, was under the government consideration.

He said Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), an autonomous society run under the DoE, will henceforth provide bandwidth to export oriented units as well as for local consumption. STPI, which has recently received licence of Internet Service Provider (ISP) from the department of communications will provide high bandwidth to private ISPs as well.

Gupta said his department will give a priority for electronic governnance and added that a state-of-the-art demonstration centre will be set up at itsoffice at New Delhi soon. He said his department wants the state governments to take advantage of the demo centre and go for electronic governance in their respective states on a priority basis.

Gupta said NIIT and Aptech will be involved in a big way in computer training. According to him, the Mumbai-based National Centre for Software Technology will be accorded a status of centre of excellence and it will start its operations in Bangalore and Vashi.

Maharashtra chief minister Manohar Joshi, in his inaugural address, announced that the Mumbai-Pune belt would be developed as a "knowledge corridor". He said Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation would construct five-lakh square feet of built-up space in Seepz and 20-lakh square feet of built-up space in the Millenium Park at Navi Mumbai for the IT industry and complete IT park at Pune.

Joshi said his government plans to appoint a special officer at the Silicon Valley for the promotion of IT industry in Maharashtra. He said a hardware park will bedeveloped in Navi Mumbai on 400 hectares of land.

State industry minister Leeladhar Dake said Maharashtra continues to be the most favoured attractive destination for investors. According to him, the state has received proposals for 7,432 projects worth Rs 1,30,000 crore of investment. He added that Rs 21,461 crore worth of foreign direct investment involvoing 1,166 projects have been approved by the Centre for Maharashtra.

National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) chairman Raj Jain announced that a study group would be set up to develop a road map for India becoming a software super power. The group would submit its report soon. Thecountry's software exports will reach at $100 billion by 2008 from the existing $4 billion, Jain said.

Nascom president Dewang Mehta said the Indian software industry is poised to grow by more than 50 to 70 per cent annually.

FIs have a role to play: The idea for a dedicated fund to invest in the info tech sector is a good one. Start-ups inthe info-tech area find it difficult to obtain finance from traditional sources. The present venture capital players also have not been successful in providing support to info-tech start-ups. While the idea of a separate funds is good, the management of the fund will be crucial for its viability. It is desirable that institutions such as ICICI, or other pro-active investment institutions such as IL&FS play a role in managing these funds. Leaving the allocative process to a government agency could lead to a conflict of interest.