Kolkata, Aug 4 (IANS) The West Bengal government is drafting a new Information Technology policy which would be made public after consultations with IT experts Sam Pitroda and N.R. Narayana Murthy, state IT Minister Partha Chatterjee said Thursday.

"We are preparing the base paper for formulating a new IT policy. We will seek suggestions from Murthy and Pitroda on it. Then we will submit it to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her final clearance," Chatterjee told reporters here.

The state's erstwhile Left Front government had unveiled its IT policy in 2003.

Chatterjee indicated that the new policy would give priority to small and medium IT firms and lay stress on developing both software and hardware.

The IT sector would be given a bouquet of incentives.

The state government would set up IT clusters in a number of cities including Asansol, Durgapur, Siliguri, Bankura, Barjora besides towns in North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas districts.

As part of simplifying the paperwork for entrepreneurs intending to start projects in the state, the state government was working on preparing a 25-page form as opposed to the existing 56.