The IT exports from Kerala are poised to grow by 50 per cent this financial year, National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) president Som Mittal said here on Monday.
Interacting with the media in connection with the launch of NASSCOM Kerala regional council, Mittal said Kerala had witnessed 24 per cent growth in the IT-ITES sector in the past decade. With the IT turnover of Kerala touching one billion dollars last year, the prospects are looking up. Kerala is witnessing a rapid growth with around 500 companies operational and 80,000 direct employees, he said.
Entrepreneurship has emerged as an alternative to conventional employment channels. However, capability building and ‘’early-stage hand-holding’’ were required, he said.
The ‘10,000 START-UPS’ project launched by NASSCOM has witnessed overwhelming response, Mittal said. In all, 323 of the 4000 applications received were shortlisted, and, of this, nine were from Kerala, he said.
Also, three of the solutions submitted for a NASSCOM competition for developing software for women’s safety were from Kerala, he said.
“We need to tell people entrepreneurship is a viable option to taking up jobs,’’ he said. Smac (acronym for Social, Mobility, Analytics and Cloud) is also emerging as the in-thing in IT offering Indian companies ample opportunities to widen their horizons, he said.