The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Coimbatore News : IT firms survey to set up shop in Coimbatore

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 07, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

IT firms survey to set up shop in Coimbatore

By M. Allirajan

COIMBATORE, SEPT. 6. Fifteen Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) companies have conducted a survey in Coimbatore to explore setting up development centres, J. Parthasarathy, additional director of the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), has said.

"They have turned their attention towards non-metros due to the escalation in cost and high attrition rate. In Bangalore the attrition rate is as high as 35 per cent. The scenario is not much different in other metros," he said.

"Major companies have started to look at `tier two' cities as potential hubs for disaster recovery arrangement." He said an "integration of sorts" was taking place in cities such as Bangalore with units reorienting themselves for better delivery.

Mr. Parthasarathy, who was here to take part in an inter-collegiate computer fest organised by Dr. G.R. Damodaran College of Science, told The Hindu that `tier two' cities in Karnataka too were witnessing a robust growth in the Information Technology and ITES segments. IT major Infosys had set up a training centre in Mysore and the software exports from Mangalore was Rs. 560 crores in the last financial year.

Software parks

The Karnataka Government has sent a proposal to the Centre requesting it to set up two more software parks in the State under the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) scheme. He, however, did not elaborate on where the parks would come up. Besides Bangalore, software parks had been set up in Mangalore, Mysore, Hubli and Manipal.

Mr. Parthasarathy exuded confidence about software export prospects from Karnataka. He was confident that they would grow by 30 per cent during the current fiscal. Exports from Karnataka stood at $4.2 billion (Rs. 18,100 crores) in the last fiscal.

There was a rush for setting up IT development centres in STPI, he said. "We receive enquiries from at least two foreign companies every week. They are keen to set up a development centre and many companies are looking at Bangalore to get venture funding.

Global hub for BPO

The STPI cleared proposals from 168 companies last year for setting up units in its park. Of these, 110 proposals were from foreign companies and 48 were from the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) segment.

Data security, he said, was an area of concern. "If this is protected, India would emerge as the ideal global hub for the BPO market," he said.

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