THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Despite fears of a global recession, the state is all set to witness a boom in the IT sector in the coming years as there is a huge demand for space in all IT parks in the state.
Technopark will get a huge IT space and see vast employment generation in the next five years, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan informed the assembly through a note during the question and answer hour of the last assembly session.
As per statistics, the planned space and job opportunities are 44 lakh sq ft in Technopark which will generate 43,000 jobs, 15 lakh sq ft in Infopark generating 20,000 jobs and 4 lakh sq ft in Cyberpark generating 4,000 jobs in the next five years.
In the last six years, an additional 46.47 lakh sq ft of IT space was built in the state. Of these, 20.97 lakh sq ft is in Technopark, 22.62 lakh sq ft in Infopark and 2.88 lakh sq ft in Cyberpark.Besides, a total of 45,869 new jobs were created in the last six years, including 15,000 jobs at Technopark, 29,700 jobs at Infopark and 1,169 jobs at Cyberpark, the chief minister said on July 15 replying to T P Ramakrishnan, MLA.
John M Thomas, CEO- Kerala IT Parks, told TNIE that there is a robust demand for IT space in Kerala now. “There are a lot of enquiries coming in for IT space and we are ensuring more space in all IT parks, especially in Technopark and Infopark. In Technopark phase-III, Taurus embassy Techzone and Brigade group art Phase-I campus are building spaces. In addition, a new IT building of Carnival Group is coming up on a 3-acre plot near the existing Carnival IT building. We are in talks with the Carnival Group to start the construction as soon as possible. Similarly, the Kabani IT building at Technopark-phase-IV is almost occupied by mid-size companies. We expect that the whole Kabani building would be fully occupied within three months and finally a 1 million sq ft SEZ building will be coming up in phase-IV and the cabinet decision for the same is awaited. The Kabani building will also have a co-working space to attract more IT companies,” John said.
He added that more space is also coming up at Infopark. “The construction of IT buildings of private builders like Prestige and Sands Infra is in progress and the facilities are coming up with larger space at Infopark and the proposed space at Smartcity Kochi. Similarly, the proposed Geo Infopark at Kochi is also coming up with large IT spaces,” John said.
In the last two years, many companies were reluctant to invest in office spaces due to the pandemic. John said that the current scenario favours the state with more investors coming in. He pointed out that global recession may not have had an impact on the IT spaces in the state and it will see only an upward trend in the coming years.At present, IT parks in the state have a combined built-up space of 20 million sq ft. Another one crore sq ft is under construction. During the period 2022-26, IT parks in the state will see an increase in built-up space by 3 crore sq ft.