He promised to remove disparities between the fiscal and non-fiscal concessions offered to the Information Technology and Biotechnolgy sectors as the latter holds an equally strong promise as a driver of economic progress of the state.

 Mr Deshmukh added that the state holds huge potential in the biotechnology sector and expressed his willingness to extend full support to the investors in this sector in terms of making available land and other infrastructure facilities.

He, however, underlined the need for co-operation from all quarters, especially the land owners in the state. "We will offer compensation to farmers at market rates, rehabilitate those who are displaced by the acquisitions and procure jobs for the landowners' wards in the new industries," Mr Deshmukh said.  He reiterated that fertile and irrigated lands will not be acquired for industrial use.

The conference, "Creating New Landscape in the IT and Bio Technology Business Ecosystem," had been organised by Pune Vyaspeeth - a trust headed by Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi - and co-hosted by the state government.

Three senior personalities in the field of technology were conferred with lifetime achievement awards by the chief minister in the function. They included Dr. F.C. Kohli, former Deputy Chairman of Tata Consultancy Services, Dr, Raghunath Mashelkar, Director, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and Dr Cyrus Poonawalla, Chairman, Serum Institute of India.

Mr. Kalmadi demanded the status of a 'Knowledge City' for Pune and underlined the need to treat Mumbai-Pune knowledge corridor as one unit for the purposes of infrastructure development. "That will give greater flexibility for the government to allocate funds for development which would not otherwise come to Pune as it is not a state capital," he said. Mr Kalmadi said Pune has been contributing significantly to the country's software exports that have reached the level of almost $2 billion (Rs 8400 crore) and is likely to touch Rs 10,000 crore by the end of this financial year.