Mumbai, July 20: Kerala government will invest Rs 330 crore for development of IT infrastructure in the next 18 to 30 months and set up an IT corridor, apart from projecting IT as the Bpo destination of the country, to attract global and domestic players to set up shop in the state. "With the state having two submarine cable landing points in Kochi, bandwidth for setting up IT corridor and BPO operations is available. But we don't have adequate infrastructure to offer, which will be developed on a priority basis," Kerala IT secretary Aruna Sundararajan told here today.
Five major companies are also planning to set up base in Kerala, hence the need to provide a conducive climate on a war-footing, she said. However, Sundararajan declined to name the firms citing non-disclosure agreements with "some of them".
The state would spend Rs 30 crore, of the total Rs 330 crore earmarked, to build a new IT facility at the Kerala Export Promotion Industrial Park (KEPIP) in Kochi, which is expected to be commissioned by February 2004, she said, adding the new facility would be mainly for BPO operations.
Another Rs 100 crore would be pumped in for development of infrastructure at KEPIP Park, to provide a ambience like that of technopark in Thiruvananthapuram, she added.
With the submarine cables safe and SEA-ME-WE-3, having landing points only in Kochi in India, around 75 per cent of internet traffic is routed through the city, she said.
This has resulted in an increase in demand for space and infrastructure in the city, she added.
Bureau Report