Nagpur needs to be proactive to attract IT sector: Karnik

President of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) Kiran Karnik has this simple advice for people of the city to become very proactive in order to see progress.

"Nagpur has huge advantages today, but other cities too are not lagging behind. You have to market the city and its beautiful infrastructure aggressively. Don't say you are in a backward region. There's no point cursing the darkness, light a candle," he urged the Nagpur industry.

Karnik was delivering the keynote address at a two-day seminar, 'OpportunITy Nagpur', jointly organised by Nasscom and Vidarbha Economic Development Council (VED) here on Friday morning. Karnik said that if the Maharashtra government was not actively promoting Vidarbha, those who live here should do it.

"Work with them, put pressure on them. If you do not do it now, an opportunity will be lost. Strong support and visible backing of the state government is a must, but you cannot depend on them. Governments come and go. Push them but don't count on them," he said.

Karnik acknowledged the inherent strength of Nagpur such as its good road and rail infrastructure, available talent pool from engineering colleges, broadband connectivity and good power supply. However, he cautioned, these won't remain forever.

"You have to stay on top. Roads have a tendency of getting washed away in a year or so if you don't push for them to be repaired. The IT industry is expanding, get people to see Nagpur now and get the administration maintain it that way," he said.

Karnik said, other more aggressive state governments such as Gujarat and even West Bengal were wooing the IT sector. "Narendra Modi actually made Nasscom give him an audience. West Bengal's IT minister gives me a call every now and then. They want to be on the IT map of the country. It has never been only Chandrababu Naidu or S M Krishna who were wooing the IT industry," he said.

Karnik admitted that the so called IT Meccas of the country, Mumbai, National Capital Region (NCR) or Bangalore were clogged.

"All of them have infrastructure constraints. Everybody has been asking if these places are overheating," he said listing the problems faced by the industry there.

Karnik said in the southern region of the country, places such as Mangalore, Coimbatore, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram all are competing with Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad in attracting the IT industry and offering incentives.

"Nagpur is unique in the sense that for hundreds of kilometers there is no competition. You should use this as an opportunity," he exhorted the industry.

Karnik also said that the human resource element was not the only thing that would get the IT sector to Vidarbha. "There are a dozen-and-a-half engineering colleges in this region. Well, let me tell you Andhra Pradesh has 260," he said asking the local industry to create human resources and build on that.

Offering help to attract big names in the IT sector to Nagpur, Karnik said they will have to be invited to come and see what the city can do. "Nasscom will be happy to facilitate getting the CEOs to visit Nagpur. There will be sceptics, but even then it will serve a purpose," he said.

Karnik said once the IT sector noticed Nagpur, the place could be transformed.

"There will be huge investment in infrastructure and people. Young people who will need entertainment, places to eat and transportation all adding to the city's economy," he pointed out.

He said once big players come to Nagpur and a critical mass is built, start-ups will follow. Karnik praised VED's efforts in promoting Vidarbha and called for expediting work on the multi-modal international cargo and passenger hub project.

A former student of Hislop College, Karnik remembered the days when the night air-mail service used to converge at Nagpur from four corners of the country to sort airmail. "Nagpur has all the resources, all it now needs is a push," he concluded.

Earlier, president of VED Vilas Kale made the introductory remarks.