Kerala IT sector to see Rs 6,000 cr investments in two years: IT Park exec

Once the key projects are completed, Kerala's IT sector will create a minimum of 125,000 direct jobs in the state in the next seven years

The information technology sector in Kerala is set to see investments to the tune of around Rs 6,000 crore by 2023-24, said a senior official from the state IT Parks.

The major projects expected to be complete by 2023-24 include the Rs 800 crore TCS Aerospace hub at Technocity campus in Pallipuram, Rs 1,500 crore Taurus Downtown project in Thiruvananthapuram and Rs 800 crore World Trade Centre by Brigade Enterprises. Once these projects are completed, Kerala's IT sector will have an additional Rs 6,000 crore of investment, and will create a minimum of 125,000 direct jobs in the state in the next seven years.

“There are a bunch of committed projects as well as on- progress activities in Kochi Infopark. IBS is completing a large facility which will be inaugurated very soon and Caspian is another big name as the co-developer. Similarly, the huge developer Taurus is building out 3.4 million sq.ft facility at Thiruvananthapuram. Discussions are happening for Technopark Kochi Phase-1 as well. We want to do something substantial but we need to get some additional land in order to do that,” said John M Thomas, chief executive officer of Kerala IT parks. Kerala IT Parks is a government-sponsored entity with over 1000 acres of total space at present and houses to around 460 IT companies providing employment to over 260,000 people.

Apart from Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi, the state’s IT infrastructure is now trying to expand its presence to other parts as well. Thomas added that Kozhikode has a fully functional IT park, with presence in Koratty, Cherthala and Kundara as well. “The decentralised development of technologies have always been a theme for Kerala. There are even several incubation spaces in places like Kannur. If you look at the government’s effort in totality, it is not just IT parks, its also the Startup Mission KINFRA and other bodies. KINFRA has got facilities in different locations across the state. Startup Mission has collaboration with several NGOs and incubation centers,” he said.

The state is also expecting to benefit out of the reverse migration of the IT talent pool. Approximately, the captive IT population within Kerala is around 1.25 lakhs. “Many larger companies realized that their workforce had migrated to their hometown. That has worked in favour of Kerala’s IT Parks. At the same time almost half a million Keralites are working in the IT sector all over the world. A good percentage of them have come back to Kerala and they worked out of their native places in Kerala,” he said.

Thomas added that companies are looking for alternate location strategies because they realized that their workforce has gone to different places and attrition is also high. “They are considering offering their workforce alternate locations by setting up new office space and having satellite presence as a way to retain them. This will benefit Kerala over the long term,” he said.