Thursday, October 15, 2009

Kerala IT confirms participation in GITEX Technology Week 2009

Dubai, Oct 15, 2009: The south Indian state of Kerala has confirmed its participation in GITEX Technology Week 2009. The state will showcase the IT parks in the state, including the just launched Infopark-Koratty, and various other investment opportunities in the IT sector across Kerala.

GITEX Technology Week 2009 is scheduled to be held from October 18 to October 22, 2009 at the Dubai International Exhibition and Convention Centre.

Kerala IT, the unified brand developed to promote business opportunities in the field of information technology in the state, will be represented by a senior level delegation. The delegation is being led by Dr. Ajay Kumar, Secretary – Information Technology, Government of Kerala, and will include Dr. Ratan Kelkar, Director – Kerala IT Mission, and Mr. Siddhartha Bhattacharya, CEO, Infopark Kochi.

Commenting on Kerala IT’s participation in GITEX, Dr. Ajay Kumar, said, “We are pleased to showcase at GITEX the various investment opportunities in the IT sector in Kerala. In the past few years, many blue chip firms have established their presence in Kerala. The state has witnessed unparalleled development in the IT sector during the past few years. Kerala has added Koratty as the third destination for IT industry in Kerala, after Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi. The initial rush by companies to Koratty is indicative of the acceptance of this new destination by IT companies. ”

“We realise that GITEX is an excellent platform to showcase the growth trends in Kerala IT. We look forward to meeting business organisations from the Middle East and explain to them in detail on the various opportunities in the IT sector in Kerala,” he added.

The Kerala IT stall will be located at E6-30, Hall no-6.

Kerala is truly capitalizing on its geographical attributes and transforming itself in to a silicon coast through focused initiatives in IT infrastructure development, human resource development and citizen e-enablement. The state provides a range of attractive economic benefits to the companies operating within framework of Kerala IT. They are truly a single window solution for any business planning to set up operations.

All infrastructure and setting up formalities with the Government and approving authorities are taken care of by the three designated state-of-the-art IT Parks Technopark, Infopark and Cyberpark.


Well established such as TCS, ACS, Allianz Cornhill, Sutherland, Cognizant, OPI, IBS and Infosys are some of the names that have set operations in the state.
Kerala is one of the fastest growing upcoming IT destinations in India, with exports and turnover growing manifolds the national average over successive years.

The state has recently added a new location on its It landscape. Koratty became the third IT destination when it was dedicated to the nation by Shri V.S. Achuthanandan, Chief Minister of Kerala on October 10, 2009. The launch of the third IT Park has been received with great enthusiasm by the IT community with over one dozen companies booking space in the IT Park even before its formal launch.

Kerala offers unique investment opportunities like Land (undeveloped, semi developed, fully developed), finished built space as well as Public Private Partnership (PPP) opportunities. The government is establishing the footprint of IT activities in the state at an initial investment of US$500 million, which is expected to attract additional investments to the tune of US$5 billion over next five to seven years.

Apart from Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and non- SEZ IT work space, some of the Public Private Partnership ventures that the IT parks have on their roadmap are convention centres where the land is given to the private partner to build and they operate on revenue sharing model, budget hotels, hostel accommodation and recreational facilities.

Land can also be made available for training centres, multiplex, shopping centres, medical centres, public schools, working hostel and business incubators. In addition to all these facilities, there is also a plan to set up captive alternate energy stations.

Infopark Ambalapuzha is also undertaking Inland water way navigation where in permission will be given to run speed boats and jetty will be constructed by Infopark. Apart from earning carbon credits, this will further add to savings in terms of fuel costs for companies. Private Public Partnerships have been in vogue for a while now and have met with overwhelming response.

About Technopark-Thiruvananthapuram
Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram was established in the year 1994 and is spread over nearly 300 acres with 4 million sq. ft. of built-up space available currently.

Technopark hosts over 150 IT and ITES companies employing over 20,000 IT professionals, including five PCMM level 5 company, six CMMI level 5 and four CMM Level 3 and over 20 ISO 9001 certified companies. Technopark offers a unique confluence of advantages - robust and failsafe physical infrastructure, power and data connectivity, highly trained technical manpower, most flexible regulatory framework, highest incentives (up to US$180,000) and the best law and order environment in India


About Infopark-Kochi
Established in the year 2004, Infopark, located at Kochi, is the new IT Park and centre of excellence being developed by the Government of Kerala. To set up this project, Government has transferred 100 acres of land which is now under the ownership and possession of Infoparks Kerala, which is an independent Society fully owned by the Government.

Spread over 100 acres now, it is a potential destination among the IT/ITES investors. To add to this, complete plug and play solutions are offered by them.

Infopark has ambitious plans to become one of the major IT Clusters in the country. With this vision, it has been growing fast ever since its inception and within a short period of time, has attracted investments from more than 60 IT majors like Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Affiliated Computer Services, OPI Global, IBS Software Services, Arbitron and US Technology.

About Cyberpark- Kozhikode
Cyberpark is the new IT Park being developed by Government of Kerala in Kozhikode as the hub, and Kannur and Kasargode as spokes.

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