THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the states competing to get a larger share of the IT business, which is growing at less than 10 percent, authorities from the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu were in the capital city recently to woo investors from Technopark. They staged a road show in the city showcasing the facilities they offer at their IT parks.
Officials from Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd (ELCOT), the agency which provides IT infrastructure for companies which have invested in Tamil Nadu, were part of the road show. Last week they visited the capital city, which boasts of the first IT park with more than 350 companies, in the country, in the hope of selling their investment plan.
Though ELCOT has eight IT parks, its main focus is on attracting investments in the parks located near Thiruvananthapuram. The officials were projecting Thirunelveli, which is less than 3 hours drive from Thiruvananthapuram, as an attractive destination for IT companies that are looking for expansion.
“IT companies can either lease out land or portions of a building we have built over there.
Syntel International is starting its campus on a 100 acre land,” said chairman and managing director of ELCOT, R Sudalaikannan. According to him, around 50 IT companies in Thiruvananthapuram attended the roadshow.
Gangaikondan in Tirunelveli is also the largest IT Special Economic Zone under ELCOT. It has around 500 acres of land and out of which 290 acres is the SEZ land. The land is available for a lease period of 99 years for a rate of Rs 15 lakh per acre. The building has a total built-up area of 50,000 square feet. Besides Tirunelveli, ELCOT is promoting IT spaces in Madurai, Salem, Coimbatore, Trichy and Hosur.
Will the IT companies move to tier 2 and tier 3 locations? According to NASSCOM, availability of talent and basic infrastructure make such locations cost-effective and IT companies make geographic diversification to de-risk its business. “We have seen major IT companies expanding to locations such as Vizag, Rajasthan, Thenkasi and Chandigarh. It is part of the business strategy,” said senior director of NASSCOM, K Purushothaman.
Tamil Nadu is the third largest IT exporter in the country with over a lakh crore turnover. Kerala is catching up with its robust IT policy which envisages close to 10 lakh square feet of IT building space and startup ecosystem. The three IT parks in the state together have more than 600 companies that provide employment to over 85,000 personnel.