Date:26/10/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/10/26/stories/2005102601980200.htm

Back `Shed hesitant mindset'

Our Correspondent

Mr Dayanidhi Maran

Madurai , Oct. 25

THE Union Minister for IT and Communications, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, has exhorted entrepreneurs in the southern districts to come out of their hesitant mindset and take risks to make industrialisation possible in the region.

While the Centre is willing to lend a helping hand and provide the initiative, the State Government also should provide the necessary infrastructure for the purpose, he said.

Pointing out that he had commissioned wire-free Internet service provided by the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, free of cost at Madurai Airport and through video-conferencing, simultaneously at Coimbatore and Tiruchi Airports to enable air travellers to log on to the Internet with their laptops and thus bring the facilities to the district level and showcase them in the State to foreign travellers and attract them, the entrepreneurs in the region should take note of the fact that in respect of software exports, the contribution from Madurai has been a mere Rs 30 lakh, while Coimbatore and Tiruchi, in comparison, are better off with Rs 48.85 crore and Rs 7.86 crore respectively.

With around 69 engineering colleges in the region turning out engineers with software skills, their services should be utilised well in the region, he emphasised while addressing at the 80th Anniversary Celebrations of the Tamilnadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry here.

He further said that the Centre would help in establishing a software technology park of India (STPI) at Madurai if the local entrepreneurs or the State Government came forward to provide the necessary land for the purpose.

All facilities would be provided through it and the local entrepreneurs should take the initiative to make full use of them. If not Infosys and Wipro, at least Tier-II companies, who could not invest in land, could be attracted and "am even willing to write to the State Government if warranted," he said.

Apart from his initiative to bring big foreign companies in IT industry like Nokia and Flextronics to Tamil Nadu, on his invitation, Mr Bill Gates of Microsoft will be visiting Chennai on December 9 to explore the possibilities of setting up an office there, he said and stressed the need for more infrastructure facilities.