THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Though the Group of Technology (GTech) companies wrote to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan last February seeking extension of rent waiver for small and mid-size IT firms on Technopark campus owing to the pandemic-induced financial setback, the government is yet to take any decision so far. At that time, the government has cited election code of conduct to take a call on the matter, the newly elected government has also turned a blind eye towards their request. Adding more trouble to the companies, the Technopark authorities have increased the rent by five percent instead of waiving the rent. As a result, 15 mid-size IT firms had already vacated their office spaces and many more are preparing to leave the space, GTech sources said.
“We are awaiting swift action from the government as we submitted a memorandum in February itself to address the issues being faced by the companies due to the pandemic. Since there was no action taken from the government despite Technopark hiking rent by five percent, some companies which were struggling to survive had decided to vacate the spaces. They only need an address from Technopark now. They are not in a position to give rent. The employees of these companies are working from home and they are safe to an extent. But that is not the case with employers. They had even provided inverters to employees who face frequent power outages while working from home last month,” said Binu Jacob, secretary, GTech.
These IT companies received the rent waiver only for three months from April to June last year. Since then, the companies had to pay rent which resulted in a huge loss for them. On February 19, the Chief Minister had even tweeted: “Rent waived off from Jul to Dec ‘20 for all firms occupying < 10,000 sq. ft. in GoK IT Parks. IT & ITeS firms occupying up to 25,000 sq. ft. will get a waiver for 10,000 sq. ft. from Apr to Jun ‘20, and moratorium declared in Apr ‘20 will be valid for the remaining space.” Pinarayi made the announcement in a meeting with GTech on February 17.
The Government Order issued the next day clearly mentioned that “rent shall be waived for the months from July to December 2020 to non-IT shops and establishments operating from government-owned buildings in Government IT parks occupying space up to 10,000 sq ft”.
This means the government has considered only firms below 10,000 sq ft for non-IT vendors such as restaurants, banks, and firms offering laundry and other services for IT employees. TNIE had earlier reported the plight of non-IT vendors in the IT parks as they sought relaxation and rent waiver. A majority of firms in Technopark and Infopark have space below 10,000 sq ft. And they will not get the waiver benefits till December 2020. Companies with at least 10,000 sqft are considered big firms as they employ a minimum of 150 people.
RENT HIKE AS PER CONTRACT: IT PARKS CEO
John M Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, IT parks, Kerala told TNIE that the rent increase by five percent was implemented as per the standard contract between Technopark and the companies based on the existing rent policies. “The companies which vacated spaces were not using the spaces for more than one year and were far behind in the rent payment schedule. The Technopark cannot make a policy decision. It is up to the government and it needs to issue a govt order in this front. However, Technopark has not increased the rent for the one year despite giving a waiver for three months. It should also be noted that many companies are in queue to get a space in Technopark,” he said.