'Doubts still persist over Gujarat'

There is still doubt among software companies about the "fairness of justice" in Gujarat, which is one of the reasons for the state not been able to attract software companies in the numbers that it should.

According to National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) president Kiran Karnik, he has conveyed this sentiment to the state government and it appears that Godhra and the incidents thereafter have still not been removed from the public memory.

Karnik, speaking at the Nasscom-IIM-A workshop, added that Gujarat provides for one of the best opportunities to work in and the state government has been pro-active in creating an ideal climate for entrepreneurs.

"However, there is still a perception in the minds of the people regarding the fairness of justice here in Gujarat," Karnik said.

The Nasscom president said that this is not the main reason for software companies not eyeing Gujarat as a preferred destination. "The biggest problem is a lack of quality manpower for the software industry. Gujarat perhaps produces just one-twentieth of the manpower produced by a state like Karnataka," he said.

In November last year, while delivering a lecture at IIM Ahmedabad as part of the Confluence meet, Wipro chairman Azim Premji had stated that the state is not communally peaceful.

Replying to a question on why Wipro was not setting up its presence in Gujarat, Premji had said that Gujarat's proximity with Pakistan is the main reason as it shares a border with that country. The state too is not communally peaceful and steps need to be taken to correct this situation, he said.

Although NASSCOM was instrumental in organising a meeting of top 20 chief executive officers of information technology companies with the state government ahead of Vibrant Gujarat - Global Investors' Summit 2003, the state government did not succeed in attracting investment into this sector.

Of the total 66,000-odd crore worth of memorandum of understanding signed, just 1,300-odd crore is in the IT sector.

Nasscom officials feel that there is still a large scope for IT companies working in co-ordination with the Gujarat government, as almost all state governments are in the process of implementing e-governance projects and are upgrading existing technologies.

Nasscom has already identified five companies that will work in association with the Maharashtra government and expects to repeat that performance in Gujarat as well.

Apart from Ambalal Sarabhai Enterprises showing interest to set up an IT park at Vadodara with an investment of Rs 50 crore and Vibgyor Group of Companies showing readiness to set up an info-cum entertainment park at Bagodara for Rs 1,200 crore, there has not been any other concrete proposal for the IT sector.