He also said that Tufan Infotech India Pvt Ltd, an arm of US-based Tufan Infotech promoted by a non-resident Indian Dr Suhas Patil has already acquired nearly 27,000 sq ft in the venture park. The venue would also house the Mumbai chapter of TiE and Nasscom. The Software Technology Park of India would set up its office as well as an earth station in the Samruddhi Venture Park. Mr Deshmukh said that the Samruddhi Venture Park would have an advisory council headed by Dr Patil and comprise Dr Pathak, IIT, Mumbai; Mr Ashank Desai of Mastek; and Mr Harish Mehata, chairman of TiE western region. Mr Deshmukh sought the active cooperation of the IT and software industry to further boost e-commerce in Mumbai which has emerged as the e-biz capital and dotcom capital of India.

"We are open to calibrating our policies and responses to the needs of the time. We are willing to look at ourselves and continuously re-engineer ourselves to improve the pace of decision-making so that it is in line with expectations from responsive partners," he added.

The chief minister said that the government is focusing on setting up of specialised facilities for the IT and other industries. He added that a major exercise to re-organise the state power sector has already started to assure quality and uninterrupted power supply for IT and other industries. Mr Deshmukh said that his government has undertaken an ambitious plan to connect all its offices across the state through a wide area network and computerise its operations. Almost all talukas and many small towns have been connected with optic fibre, he added. Nasscom president Mr Dewang Mehta announced that a recent e-biz survey has revealed that Mumbai at 76 per cent is undoubtedly the e-commerce capital of India followed by Bangalore at 68 per cent, Delhi at 50 per cent, Chennai at 49 per cent and Hyderabad at 45 per cent. He however, stressed the need for necessary infrastructure for the promotion of e-commerce all over the country. Mr Kanwal Rekhi, TiE president called upon the industry and policy-makers to joina new movement on the lines of the freedom movement to boost economic growth and productivity.

"Our productivity is very low compared to China, US and other countries. We have to put in all out efforts to increase it and catch up with the competition and growth rates in the rest of the world," he added. Mr Atul Nishar, Nasscom chairman stressed the need for regulatory environment in India and world class infrastructure for the growth of e-commerce. Mr Vijay Mukhi, the Internet guru called for the creation of an entrepreneurship ecosystem in India. He added that entrepreneurship and venture capital share a unique relationship where mentoring and networking are the buzzwords.