Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

State for decentralised IT development

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan has said that the State is aiming at achieving a decentralised pattern of growth in the information technology (IT) sector unlike cities such as Bangalore and Hyderabad which had concentrated development.

Inaugurating the fully owned campus of IBS Software Services at the Technopark here on Monday, the Chief Minister said plans such as launching satellite IT parks in the district headquarters had been mooted with this view in mind.

The Chief Minister said there was a drastic change in the image of Kerala as an “investor-unfriendly State.” Now more and more investors are keen to come to Kerala to set up units. The investors now recognised that the labour in Kerala was hard-working and was not against them. The law-and-order situation was one of the best in the country. The allegations that the present government was against all forms of development had been proved wrong.

He said the encouraging response to his recent meeting with the chief executive officers (CEOs) of IT companies in Bangalore was indicative of the changed perception about Kerala. The CEOs had said that Kerala had the best ambience to start IT companies and the Technopark was rated as one of the top IT parks in the country.

The Chief Minister said work was progressing well for the launch of the Smart City project. Pointing out that the present government had planned to generate two-lakh employment avenues in the IT sector during its five-year tenure, Mr. Achuthanandan said the present indications were that it would be possible to surpass the target. The Infopark in Kochi, which was to be handed over the Dubai-based Tecom for the Smart City project as per the earlier understanding worked out by the previous government, was set to generate 50,000 employment avenues in the coming years.

Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy presided. Chairman and Managing Director of the IBS group V.K.Mathews; IT Secretary C. Ajayakumar and Chief Executive Officer of Technopark N. Radhakrishnan Nair were among those who spoke.

The new campus on 2.1 hectares of land within the Technopark has a built-up area of 4.5-lakh square feet. The campus will accommodate 4,000 IT professionals. The facility will become completely operational by 2009 and is estimated to cost Rs. 125 crore. The company officials said they were planning to set up campuses in Kochi and Kozhikode and development centres outside the State in the coming days.

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