Kochi to emerge as Kerala's IT hub

BANGALORE: The coastal city of Kochi will soon emerge as the regional hub for

IT enabled services, when the plans laid out by the new government in Kerala are

implemented. Speaking exclusively to CIOL Bureau, Kerala IT secretary Aruna

Sundararajan said that after the successful promotion of Technopark in

Thiruvananthapuram, the next hi-tech park would come up in Kochi.

"We are looking for private sector participation to build the

International Hi-tech Park in Kochi. This will be in the lines of the ITPL in

Bangalore. We are looking for either an international player or a non-resident

Indian as the joint venture partner to build and operate the park. About 240

acres of land has been identified in Kalamassery, near Kochi, for the

purpose," Sundararajan said. She added that formal talks with private

companies would soon begin and the finalization of the JV partner was expected

in the next three months.

Speaking separately to CIOL Bureau, Technopark Chief Executive Officer Rajiv

Vasudevan said that besides the International Hi Tech Park, two more parks were

being planned for IT and related services. A 180-acre KEPIP Park was being

proposed in Kakkanad, near Kochi, while a smaller KITEL Park was expected to

come up in Kozhikode-Malappuram area.

The state government had identified three pronged strategy to promote Kerala

as suitable IT destination and attract investments. Sundararajan pointed out

that the state would develop its infrastructure and soon make Kerala the

best-networked state in the country. Already, seven major players have been

given the right of ways to build a backbone for networking the state through

fiber optic cables. This network would then be used to offer IT services to

citizens. Kochi would be positioned as not just software and services but as the

hub for convergence of media and IT, Sundararajan said.

Besides inviting investments from outside the state, the government is also

focusing on encouraging Kerala based entrepreneurs to venture into IT services,

such as Internet-enabled businesses, content and multimedia development and IT

enabled services (ITES). As part of the re-look at the IT policy, the government

is also expected to announce special package for ITES players. There are efforts

to create skilled workers in the state to meet the demand that would arise from

such an initiative. Sundararajan said that at college levels relevant training

such as skills in English language and call center skills would be offered.

The third thrust area for the state government would be promoting eGovernance.

The computerization of the secretariat is expected to be over in the next few

months. The ambitious plan of the government to connect all the 1,100 panchayats

in the state was in the final stages. Sundararajan said that the software for

the project was ready and the deployment would be completed in one third of the

panchayats in the next six months.

In an effort to build better-informed citizens, the state government also

planned to build a portal that would serve the dual role of information

dissemination and deliver government services. Sundararajan said the business

model for the portal was being worked upon and was expected to be developed in

the next two months. She added that the most widely accessed services in about

8-10 state departments would be identified and these services would be made

available on the Internet for the citizens through the portal. Citizens would be

able to access these services through kiosks to be set up across the state

through private participation.

Listing out the advantages that the state had over the others in building the

most suitable IT infrastructure, Vasudevan said that Kerala had the fastest

growth in cellular penetration in the country. Kochi was the only city other

than Mumbai where the SE-ME-WE3 cable landed and provided about 10 Gbps of

bandwidth to be tapped. He added that this fact offered a cost differential

advantage of about Rs 50 lakh per annum against most cities except Mumbai. The

state also boasts of an employee attrition rate of 5 per cent in the IT

industry, much less than the global average. Vasudevan added that contrary to

the common perception the IT industry had no labor issues in the last seven

years.