Bangalore: Software major Infosys CEO and president Nandan M Nilekani today (Sep 22, 2004) chaired the Uttar Pradesh Development Council (UPDC) meet in Bangalore to discuss and frame a model IT policy for the Northern State.

The meeting held at the Infosys campus on the city outskirts deliberated on the proposed IT policy, authored by a team headed by Nilekani, besides promoting the Noida region for further growth, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Amar Singh told reporters this evening.

The policy is likely to be placed before the cabinet soon, Singh, chairman of UPDC, said.

Nilekani would visit Noida on November five to interact with IT leaders and firms in the Noida and Greater Noida region and catapult the growth rate in IT development in the region, he said.

Singh said Infosys had not committed itself to set up its software development centre in the State, but "we are not disappointed and are not going to give up".

Nilekani, he said, plans to take up a pilot e-governance project in Lucknow municipality, but did not elaborate further.

Singh, who has been aggressive to attract investments in Uttar Pradesh, said, the State was promoting Lucknow and Kanpur as other IT destinations.

He said a special economic zone has been sanctioned for Noida, and Reliance had shown keen interest to situate their energy project close to the proposed SEZ. Singh said Rs 25,000 crore was likely to be invested in projects in the State over the next nine months.