THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala received Rs 600 crore as salary from the IBM Kochi Software Lab, three times more than that provided by the Telangana unit of apparel manufacturer Kitex Group, Industries Minister P Rajeeve has said.
The minister was speaking after inaugurating the first phase and portal of the Mission 1000 project of the industries department. IBM’s investment in Kochi provides highly-paid jobs in areas like artificial intelligence.
The Mission 1000 project aims to enhance the annual turnover of 1,000 MSMEs in the state to Rs 100 crore each. The state-level committee for the project approved applications from 88 MSMEs. They will get Rs 1 lakh for preparing DPR, Rs 2 crore as capital investment and interest subsidy. The government is also planning additional assistance with the support of banks. The minister said Thiruvananthapuram district put up a good performance as part of the Year of Enterprises programme.
The enterprises selected in the Mission 1000 programme include 22 from Thrissur, 14 from Alappuzha, and seven from Wayanad. The government wants to include at least 250 units in the programme this year. The minister said 20% of the global medical devices industry was in Kerala.
A maximum number of five, four and three-star hotels in the country are in Kerala. MLA Antony Raju presided over the function. industries department principal secretary Suman Billa, industries director S Harikishore, KINFRA managing director Santhosh Koshy Thomas, SLBC Kerala convenor S Premkumar and KSSIA state president A Nizarudeen attended.