Thiruvananthapuram, December 11 2015:  Kerala state is among the most agile to  take up the central government's  offer to enourage and supprt the creation of Electronic Manufacturing Clusters (EMCs) across the country. 
The nodal state agency for facilitating the development of industrial infrastructure  -- the  Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA)  has earmarked  66.87 acres of land at Kakkanad in Kochi  to create the EMC  and offers  to provide necessary infrastructure required for export based Electronic Manufacturing industries.  It has gone by the  Demand Assessment   of the India Electronics & Semiconductor Association (IESA)  which identifies Medical Electronics, LED Lightings, Energy Meters, Set up boxes, Television Sets and Printed Electronics as areas of high potential for undertaking manufacturing in Kerala.
KINFRA has  floated a Special Purpose  Vehicle  for this purpose and published  a document  inviting industries for  joining the SPV through  an Express of Interest    and setting up a unit in the EMC.   A pre-EoI meeting  has been arranged at KINFRA's head office on December 15.
The EMC SPV  will  have51% stake holding by the incumbent units  which will also enjoy the MSIPS benefits in addition to the common facilities set up in the cluster.
Bangalore meeting
In a business to business meeeting organised  with IESA in Bangalore recently, KINFRA  MD,  G C Gopala Pillai pointed at the advantages of Kerala by way of plentiful  power,  lower trained manpower cost,  superior logistics,  a world-class quality of life  while the Principal Secretary for IT and Industry, P H Kurian  dispelled the  cliched view of Kerala  as the home  of labour militancy  as an old story. 
To support the perception, K Shamsudin, GM Infrastructure, heading   a team from one of the largest Kerala-based  tech industry conglomerates  -- the NeST group  with its flagship SFO Technologies --   pointed at their quarter century of  strife free presence in the state, across key electronic technology sectors, with many global  MNC clients.
IESA  President    M N Vidyashankar  drew on his own vast  experience as former  Additional Secretary of Karnataka state and head of IT and BT departments to clarify and explain the compelling attractions of the Kerala invitation