The expert committee on information technology (IT) headed by Sam Pitroda is likely to submit its report by the middle of January. "The expert committee under Sam Pitroda is likely to submit its report to the government by middle of January," Basudeb Banerjee, state principal IT secretary told agencies.

He said that the blueprint of the state's IT policy would be based on the recommendations contained in the report. After coming to power, the state government under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee formed an expert committee on IT where Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy as mentor and Sam Pitroda as the chairman.

Other prominent members of the panel included former Nasscom chairman Kiran Karnik and executive co-chairman of Infosys Kris Gopalakrishnan. Banerjee said that the report would also contain policy on hardware as well as software.

"This is the first time that so much thrust is being given on developing hardware industry in the state," Banerjee said. The other new aspect which would also feature was that of setting up of an innovation laboratory in the state, he added.

He said that the government had already handed over 50-acre of land to Infosys at Rajarhat for setting up its first unit in the state. "Work in also on to hand over another 50-acre to Wipro for their second unit also at Rajarhat," he said.