YEREVAN. - Thanks to the application of the unprecedented law “On State Support in Area of Information Technologies”, the number of licensed start-ups in Armenia has reached 95, that of the new working places being 450.

The turnover of these companies is about $2 mln, Deputy Economy Minister of Armenia, Emil Tarasyan, told journalists Wednesday.

According to his assessment, the provision of tax exemptions to start-ups increased the number of Armenia-based start-ups by about five times, these being serious enterprises, whose real significance will become apparent in several years.

For his part, CEO of the Union of Information Technology Enterprises (UITE) Karen Vardanyan told journalists that at the last session of the Information Technology Development Support Council, a legislative initiative was proposed on providing tax exemptions to the IT companies in border regions of Armenia.

In his words, the bill provides for making amendments to two laws: the sphere of services should be included in the Law “On tax exemptions for entrepreneurship in border village communities”, while the Law on “State Support to the Sphere of Information Technologies” should include a point on tax exemptions for IT companies operating in border villages, regardless of whether they are start-ups or not.

“If an IT company opens a branch in border communities, it must receive serious exemptions on income tax. We think this will be interesting to many enterprises, and they will move part of their activity to border regions,” he said.

Vardanyan also noted that one working place in the IT sphere creates 8-9 vacancies in other spheres in the U.S. This number is twice low in Armenia, but these are still serious investments and can become a serious incentive for immigration, he added.  

The UITE plans to open engineering labs in all schools of Armenia by 2019 and 15,000 new working places will be opened there by 2022.