Date:21/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/21/stories/2008092155521300.htm

Business

Kerala wooing IT majors

Shanthi Kannan

To develop technology parks over 1,000 acres

- FILE PHOTO

A view of Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram.

CHENNAI: Kerala is all out to woo IT majors. It is hoping to attract investment worth a few billion dollars to develop IT parks across the State by setting up special purpose vehicles.

N. RadhaKrishnan Nair, Chief Executive Officer of Technopark Kerala, who was here recently, told this correspondent that Kerala had earmarked 1,000 acres for developing IT parks over the next eight years. Similarly, another 500 acres would be developed by private developers.

The State, he said, hoped to attract an investment of around Rs. 20,000 crore over eight years in these government-sponsored parks.

Mr. Nair said promotional campaign was done jointly with Nasscom (National Association of Software and Service Companies), Southern Region. The State had decided to develop IT parks — Smart City on 240 acres, Sobha Hitech City on 400 acres, Infopark and Cial IT Park, all in Kochi, Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram and Cyberpark in Kozhikode.

The Technopark would be developed in three phases under the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) category. Phase-I was already up and running, which housed 45,000 people. Phase-II is under construction on 86 acres and this could house 30,000 people. Phase-III, which would come up on 100 acres, could accommodate 35,000 people. The Government hoped to attract investment worth over Rs. 7,000 crore in these three projects. So far, Rs. 5,000 crores had been spent and a special purpose vehicle had been created to manage and run these parks, wherein the State Government would have a 26 per cent stake.

Similarly, the State was also developing Technocity, a second centre in Thiruvananthapuram, on 450 acres. This, it is hoped, will house one lakh employees.

The park will be completed by 2015 with an investment of $2 billion.