Mumbai: IT gets vertical boost in the Maximum City

In a bid to accelerate the state services sector's contribution from the current 59 per cent to 67 per cent by 2025, Maharashtra has proposed to provide additional floor space index (FSI) to information technology (IT) and IT-enabled service sectors (IITES) in Greater Mumbai. The higher FSI is being offered to overcome the space constraints in land-starved Mumbai.

For a plot admeasuring 2,000 square metre (sq m) an FSI up to three will be offered, for a plot above 2,000 sq m and up to 3,000 sq m, an FSI up to four has been proposed. Similarly, for a plot above 3,000 sq m, an FSI up to five is being proposed. Currently, the FSI for the IT and ITES in the island city is 2.66. It was recently amended to 3.99 if there is more than 18-metre road. In the suburbs, the FSI is two and three if there is more than 18-mt road. The proposed higher FSI will be granted to bigger plots proportionately in Greater Mumbai.

The FSI will be uniform for the island city and suburbs.

The higher FSI will be provided to all IT and ITES units in Public IT Parks and all registered IT and ITES units located in private IT parks, approved by the state director of industries. It will be binding on IT and ITES units to use a maximum of 80 per cent of the total FSI, while the remaining 20 per cent could be used used for commercial services. The IT supported financial services will be restricted to the users specified by the state industries department.

An officer from the state urban development told the DNA, "The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has proposed provisions in this regard in the Development Control Rules 2034. The government is expected to give its approval before April end."

Mastek founder and Nasscom's former chairman Ashank Desai said that in Mumbai, people find it very difficult to have a large set up particularly for small startups and SME/IT ventures because of the cost of building and facilities."

YMS Consultants MD, Yomesh Rao said the rise in FSI will promote the development of IT parks across the city. "The incentives granted under the IT policy and higher FSI will make these ventures viable," he said.