A tech-savvy Kerala on 50th birthday

Software giants like Infosys will employ about 20,000 engineers in land adjoining the TechnoPark and infrastructure development in both cities seems to be keeping pace.

The history of south India can be traced back to over 2,000 years. However, it was only 50 years ago when the four southern states were created along linguistic lines.

CNN-IBN unveils the changing face of south India and celebrates the Dravidian spirit in a special series The Golden South.

Thiruvanathapuram: As it turns 50, Kerala has just begun to take baby steps towards empowering a sector that has been stagnant for quite some time.

While its other southern counterparts – more specifically Karnataka and Tamil Nadu – have raced ahead, Kerala’s IT industry has been feeling withdrawal pangs for a while.

However, if the recently elected LDF regime has its way, the state would soon witness a kickstart in three mega IT projects.

When Chief Minister V S Achutanandan took over the reins of government in Kerala, he also began incorporating some big plans for the city’s IT sector.

First up was the controversial Smart City project with Dubai's Tecom group, which was put back on track, minus its contentious clauses.

The project will be heralded by the setting up of a 500-acre Technocity to complement Thiruvananthapuram's Technopark.

“The Left has a change in perception, that I agree. We don't want Kerala to be destination cheap labour alone. We are now concentrating more on knowledge-based industry. The Left, in fact, has more vision on this now,” says Chief Minister’s IT advisor, Joseph Mathew.

While it was Communists’ change of mind that provided a catalyst, the IT saturation in Bangalore and Hyderabad meant a migration to tier-two cities like Kochi and Thiruvanathapuram.

Software giants like Infosys will employ about 20,000 engineers in land adjoining the TechnoPark and infrastructure development in both cities seems to be keeping pace.

“I don't think infrastructure is a bottle neck in Cochin or Thiruvananthapuram. Rather the infrastructure in Thiruvananthapuram is excellent,” says President of Ventures Management Associates, G Vijaya Raghavan.

So when Kerala gears up to celebrate the golden jubilee of its formation, it's projects like Smart City, Kochi's LNG Terminal and the Vizhinjam Port in Thiruvananthapuram that will change the way the average Malayalee looks at his life.

It was more than a decade ago when the first IT park was built in the state, and it’s beyond doubt that very little has happened after that.

But with the new LDF government deciding to throw away the anti-IT garb, the road ahead looks more promising than ever.

Original story