Not to be outdone by AP,TN and Karnataka-Kerala Commies Woo IT Investors
Nandu:
How'bout them commies,eh? I sent an email to Chief Minister Nayanar the other day but the bozo never replied, I let you know if I get anything. But to be fair I did get a reply from the 'Power/Electricity' minister and Secretary.
==================
Kerala plans to woo IT investors
Joe A Scaria
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM 22 OCTOBER
NOT TO be completely outdone by its neighbours - Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the infotech sweepstakes - the Kerala government has also decided to go all out and woo IT entrepreneurs.
Leading the charge is chief minister E K Nayanar himself, who also holds charge of the information technology department which was recently delinked from industry minister Suseela Gopalan?s portfolio.
The development comes at a time when the IT sector in Kerala is going through a phase of rapid growth. The turnover of the IT sector in the state which was only about Rs 50 crore last year, is poised to cross the Rs 250-crore mark in the current year, with |Network Systems and Technologies| (NEST) alone heading for a turnover in excess of Rs 100 crore. Mr Nayanar will meet up with the chiefs of close to 100 leading IT players here on November 13, in an attempt to sell the facilities that Kerala has to offer them. Officials in the information technology department told The Economic Times that the invitees list includes every top IT company: Infosys, Wipro, Satyam, TCS, IBM and Compaq.
Besides wooing these groups to set up infotech outfits in Kerala, the chief minister is expected to specifically seek investment in the School for Information Technology and Management (Sitma). The project envisages an outlay of Rs 30 crore, with plans to offer top-end IT courses which will also have management subjects in the curriculum.
Kerala's IT sector, which has until recently revolved around the Technopark near here, is getting more broadbased with 17 new units setting up shop at the Cochin Export Processing Zone in the last eight months. The infrastructure for IT companies will be further enhanced with the commissioning of the Export Promotion Industrial Park promoted by the Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (Kinfra), shortly.
Kerala information technology secretary, Aruna Sundararajan said inputs would also be sought from the IT chieftains on the curriculum content for Sitma's courses. An interim campus for the school is being readied at the Technopark.
A committee chaired by M G K Menon has been constituted to give direction to Sitma. The committee includes, among others, Javed Hassan, chairman of the Kerala Electronics Development Commission and Professor Mani Chandy, head of the computer sciences department of the California Institute of Technology. (ET 10/22/99) |
