As many as seven major IT players have shown serious interest in investing in the 500-acre Gangaikondan IT SEZ in Tirunelveli. This follows a two-day roadshow that was held in January to help the top brass of nearly a dozen IT companies gauge first-hand the potential of the Gangaikondan IT Park in Tirunelveli. C. Umashankar, managing director, Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd (ELCOT) told The Hindu that the whole process of land allotment was expected to be finalised by April-May. The focus, then, would shift to accelerating the ongoing infrastructure development process. Tirunelveli had centre staged the ELCOT charm both because of its proximity to Thiruvananthapuram's Technopark and because of the availability of manpower (an annual output of around 16,040 engineering graduates and 26,500 arts and science graduates). Also, by focussing on the southern hinge, the plan was to establish a "coast-to-coast" IT environment that stretched from Tirunelveli to Chennai.
ELCOT reckons that once the 500-acre SEZ is sold out like the ones in Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai, the task of attracting clients would be much easier for the other Tier-II cities on the radar - Salem and Tiruchi. In fact, Chief Secretary L. K. Tripathy had let in a group of potential investors on the Government vision for the IT/ITES industry. Addressing the group which had attended the Tirunelveli road show, he declared: "I'll bat for Tiruchi also." The message to IT companies eyeing expansion in Tamil Nadu was to have a serious look in the direction of other cities such as Salem, Tiruchi, Madurai and Hosur as well. The intent in Tamil Nadu is to avoid the mistakes of its neighbour Karnataka by clustering IT growth around one or two centres (Bangalore-Mysore). The Chief Secretary added that the Government was upgrading facilities in the OMR sector and other sites earmarked for IT business.
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