'Software Technology Parks of India' (STPI) is a government agency in India, established in 1991 under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, that manages the Software Technology Park scheme. It is an export oriented scheme for the development and export of computer software, including export of professional services. The STP Scheme provides various benefits to the registered units, which includes 100% foreign equity, tax incentives, duty free import, duty free indigenous procurement, CST reimbursement, DTA entitlement, deemed export etc.
STPI has played a seminal role in India having earned a reputation as an information technology superpower. The exports done by STP units has crossed over Rs. 204440 crores in FY 2010-11. The state with the largest export contribution was Karnataka (see Bangalore) followed by Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamilnadu. STPI has a presence in many of the major cities of India including the cities of Bangalore, Trivandrum, Bhilai, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Pune, Guwahati, Noida, Mumbai, Kolkata, Kanpur, Lucknow, Dehradun, Patna, Rourkela, Ranchi, Gandhinagar, Imphal, Shillong, Nashik etc.
Besides regulating the STP scheme, STPI centers also provide variety of services, which includes High Speed Data Communication, Incubation facility, Consultancy, Network Monitoring, Data Center, Data Hosting etc. STPI provides physical hosting for the National Internet Exchange of India.
The tax benefits under the Income Tax Act Section 10A applicable to STP units has expired since March 2011. While the Government has chosen not to extend the Sec 10A benefits against the demand by the IT units, most of the STP registered SME units shall be affected, who now will have to pay Income Tax on profits earned from exports.
Recently STPI has announced that it has appointed consulting firm Deloitte & Touche to study and prepare a draft incentive scheme for IT & ITEScompanies. It will help dispersal of IT industry in smaller cities and also support STPI-registered units which have not come under SEZs as well as other units which are not covered under any incentive scheme. This incentive scheme is seen as an alternate scheme to compensate the STPI units, but the same would be restricted to those units located in tier II and III cities.
| Name of the State | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andhra Pradesh | 26122.00 | 31039.00 | 27665.85 | 28470.49 |
| Assam | 10.00 | |||
| Chandigarh | 455.11 | 539.00 | 434.35 | 470.89 |
| Chattishgarh | 0.22 | 1.83 | 4.50 | 4.17 |
| Delhi | 5264.00 | 1762.00 | 1892.49 | 1776.90 |
| Gujarat | 681.00 | 1268.13 | 1035.00 | 1150.31 |
| Haryana | 10960.00 | 12410.00 | 14795.36 | 12177.10 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 1.10 | 0.75 | 1.69 | 0.63 |
| Jammu Kashmir | 1.28 | 1.74 | 1.25 | 1.10 |
| Jharkhand | 2.10 | |||
| Karnataka | 55000.00 | 70375.00 | 67100.00 | 65423.00 |
| Kerala | 1201.00 | 1803.00 | 1956.45 | 1422.64 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 185.22 | 198.00 | 214.93 | 135.00 |
| Maharashtra | 35374.00 | 42360.88 | 45709.34 | 49873.78 |
| Meghalaya | 1.64 | |||
| Orissa | 844.00 | 1162.00 | 1116.83 | 1253.29 |
| Pondicherry | 64.00 | 78.65 | 142.00 | |
| Punjab | 227.56 | 230.00 | 345.38 | 308.95 |
| Rajsthan | 275.30 | 358.00 | 520.36 | 461.06 |
| Tamilnadu | 28295.00 | 28355.58 | 26363.51 | 25465.00 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 10695.21 | 10264.36 | 10590.43 | 10281.60 |
| Uttarakhand | 9.31 | 21.00 | 174.16 | 86.19 |
| West Bengal | 4500.00 | 5129.00 | 5441.00 | 5665.00 |
All figures in Rs. Crores
STPI's national headquarters is in New Delhi. Major national centers include: