KOCHI: Infopark Kochi has doubled its exports for the year 2008-09, with the gross turnover increasing to Rs 463 core, registering a growth of 87 percent, according to reports from Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and SoftwareTechnology Parks of India (STPI).
The total turnover from the Infopark touched an all-time high of nearly Rs 600 crore with the inclusion of other ancillary units. Kerala is one of the few IT states that buckled the global trend and registered a phenomenal growth.
With more and more IT businesses moving to tier II towns this year due to economies of operation, the Kerala IT witnessed many international IT brands moving to Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi for their excellent infrastructure, 24x7 power and data connectivity.
Infopark Kochi attracted a record number of leading world class established companies namely, US Technologies, BlueLabs Technology Solution, UCI Technologies, Arbitron, Zerone Consulting, NHR Outsourcing, SIT Mobile and Alcatel Lucent and the Indian behemoth TataTele Services.
The other milestones include the launch of new Infoparks at Cherthala, Ambalapuzha and Koratty along with ramp up of co-developer projects including L&T, Leela Group and two IT giants, TCS and Wipro. Infopark Kochi was able to add 2,500 IT professionals, which took the employment in Infopark to 9,000 direct employees.
In addition to this, the financial results of 2008 saw a significant push from the SEZ units and a planned increase in capital investment of 600 percent.
Siddhartha Bhattacharya, CEO, Infopark, said that the Infopark aims at leveraging its current growth and driving a significant advantage to generate differentiated value for existing companies and investors.
The other most advantageous factor is the state’s infrastructure facilities and single window clearance, differentiated pricing power for the companies in SEZ, uninterrupted power and water supply.
Some of the HR challenges that the IT industry faces are in recruitment, training and development, performance management, compensation management and human resource management. In view of these, the Kerala IT has initiated several programmes such as tie-ups with reputed universities and colleges resulting in rapid career advancement opportunities for employees.
Special Post graduate Education Expansion Drive in IT (SPEED-IT), which offers strategy to attract good students into Masters and PhD programs in IT and IT-related disciplines by providing attractive scholarships by the government and industry.
Source : Express Buzz