Bangalore, January 29, 2015: After state capital Thiruvananthapuram and port city Kochi, the Kerala government is aggressively promoting the( north Kerala) Malabar region's biggest city Kozhikode as the next IT destination.
In a promotional event here today, the state's IT Minister P K Kunhalikutty, pointed to the clean-green attractions of two contiguous IT Parks on the outskirts of the city -- the government-operated Cyberpark and the UL Cyberpark uniquely owned and run by a cooperative of contract labourers. ( see our separate story here).
With 68 acres of prime and fully developed land within 10 km from historic city centres , global companies including UST Global, IBS, Ernst and Young among others are actively considering starting a unit in the twin parks, said P H Kurian, Principal Secretary, IT, of the Kerala government.
Cyberpark with a total area of 42 acres including 30 acres of notified Special Economic Zoone, will be business ready by December 2015, offering 1-3 acre plots for 90 year lease at most competitive rates, officials explained.
The Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society's UL Cyberpark owns 26 acres of land within which it has already completed 4.8 Lakh ( 4,80,000) Sq Ft of built up space.
“Kerala now houses two of the most successful IT parks of the country, n Technopark, in Thiruvananthapuram and Infopark, Kochi. The Cyberpark at Kozhikode is built on similar lines", added Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan whose own company has a presence in Technopark. He said the 5000-strong centre has emerged as one of the best units of Infosys and complimented the state government for its assistance and getting the unit up to speed very swiftly.
“Kerala has caught the imagination of technology companies who are all set to put Kozhikode on India’s IT map", added Minister Kunhalikutty, "The global connect business travel programmes s regularly conducted during the last 3 years with more than 60 IT SME companies taken to various destinations in Europe, Australia and Middle East has resulted in building capabilities and global business relationships in the SME segment. Companies from Kozhikode who participated through this programme in last GITEX in Dubai have made strong business relationships.”
Cyberpark is expected to employ 25,000 IT professionals when fully functional, said Mr Ajith Kumar R, Chief Executive Officer, Cyberpark, Kozhikode. Officials pointed out that the location was less than 6 hours drive from Bangalore.
The leadership of Kerala's IT infrastructure was present in full force at the event --- including, Technopark CEO K G Girish Babu and S Ramnath Managing Director of the Kerala State IT Infrastructure Ltd which is responsible for the state-owned parks. Also on hand to support the state's initiative, were NASSCOM's Senior Director for Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puduchery K Purushothaman and Kerala based representative Sujith Unni.