Inaugurating a day-long conference on IT development dubbed, “Meghabytes” and organised by the State Information Technology department, Sangma said, the cost of setting up business houses in big cities and metros comes with a high price tag and also high manpower cost.

Urging the IT companies to set up their business houses here in the region, he said, the manpower from the region, who are now working in some of the metros, would be more than excited to work closer at home at a lower cost than far away.

He also said that the cost of setting up business houses in the North East would be comparably cheaper than those in the metros and other bigger cities in India.

The Chief Minister, moreover, urged the IT companies to make available their technology at an affordable price and reach out to a larger group of people rather than confine to a select few who may afford it.

“The price structuring of the technology must be done in such a way that it can reach out to a large group of people,” he told the gathering of CEOs and other officials from the IT industry.

About the IT sector in Meghalaya, Sangma said Meghalaya is the “first State in the country to have all the infrastructure” for the State wide network, data centres, common service centre and other IT facilities for the people.

He said that the only bottleneck the State was facing now is the poor connectivity and urged the IT companies to come up with requisite mechanisms to counter it. “We need partners to help provide the State with better connectivity at an affordable price,” he said.