Nasscom pitches Mysore as next IT destination in Karnataka

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) is showcasing Karnataka's cultural capital Mysore as the next destination for IT and electronics industry in the southern state.

"The proactive measures of the state government to take IT, IT-enabled Services (ITeS) and electronics to Mysore is taking shape with the state government promoting tier-two cities as the next destination in the state for the growth of the tech industry," Nasscom chairman and MindTree chief executive Krishnakumar Natarajan said at Mysore Wednesday.

As a prelude to the Bangalore ITE.Biz 2013 tech event in October, the state IT department is holding a two-day conference at Mysore, 140 km from here, with the theme 'Mysore - the emerging ITE destination'.

"The conference is being held to involve stakeholders from the IT, ITeS, animation and electronics sectors to develop the ecosystem at Mysore for attracting more investments and firms," state IT Secretary I.S.N. Prasad said on the occasion.

As the next wave of growth is expected to be driven by small and emerging firms through innovation and entrepreneurship, the industry's representative body is targeting Rs.15,000 crore business, including 10 percent of export revenue from Mysore during the next three years.

"The growth will largely come through building end-to-end products in areas spanning engineering and R&D (research and development), internet business, mobile application and business process management (BPM)," Natarajan said.

Delivering a range of software services and products to over 70 countries worldwide in 35 different languages, the Indian IT industry is aiming at $300 billion business by 2020 from $108 billion in 2013, and to contribute 12 percent to the country's GDP (gross domestic product) from 7.5 percent currently.

The Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) of the union IT ministry is setting up a 50,000 square feet incubation facility at Mysore to promote innovation and encourage entrepreneurs to set up their firms in the new IT destination.

"We will showcase facilities like the incubation centre for start-ups at the ensuing Bangalore ITE.biz event to attract investments to Mysore and attract existing firms to take advantage of the facility," said STPI director P.K. Das.

A special skill development session for students will be conducted on the second day of the conference Thursday.

About 250 delegates from Mysore are participating in the conference, with sessions on 'Taking IT beyond Bangalore: Enablers and Challenges; fostering a culture of innovation in enterprise; opportunities with cloud computing technology; opportunities in ESDM (Electronic System Design & Manufacturing); skill development session on employability skills and showcasing digital media in the creative industry'.