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Here is a quick quiz. You are a CEO of an MNC IT company and you are told to ramp up or start India operations and need to find a location. If you go by popular perception and decide for Bangalore, Hyderabad or Chennai, we suggest you wait a little and look further south-you will see Kerala. Kerala is on the threshold of becoming a major IT destination in the South and the infrastructures it has created, speaks about its inherent potential. Take the case of IVL Group's chairman and MD, Sunil Gupta, who started operations in Technopark a decade back. At that time many wondered whether he had made the right move when he shifted from Mumbai. But Gupta has proved his skeptics wrong. Today, Technopark is brimming with occupancy and companies are vying to start operations in the state-of-the-art facility. It is one of the largest IT Parks in the country, with 120 companies and employs over 15,000 professionals.

The Ground Realities
Here comes the big question. If Kerala has such impressive infrastructure, why is that things have not panned out positively for the State? The answer most CEOs we met gave us was-We did not showcase enough of our potential to the outside world, and negative perceptions like strikes, a society mired in communist ideologies played spoilsport, but not any more. This thinking among the IT industry outside, led to the slow pace of growth despite the fact that Kerala was the first state in India to pioneer the Technopark concept in India. However, in the last few years the negative perception has faded out with many companies weighing more closely the inherent merits of operating out of Kerala. "When we came here a decade back, things were totally different. Sure, Technopark as a facility was state of the art, but there was no proper eco-system that supported it. For instance, we found hard to get local talent needing to recruit from outside, and we were unable to retain them. But today, it's a different story altogether. Expect for very senior top level talent, the HR skill base has gone up significantly, and readily employable local talent is available in good numbers," says Gupta.

Fast Facts Area: 38,863 sq km Capital: Trivandrum Language: Malayalam Population: 3,18,41,374 Literacy: 100% Connectivity 100% digital telephone exchanges SEA-ME_WE 3 and SAF cables at Kochi, the second city to have two submarine cable landing VSNL's ICG handles 70% of the data traffic 15 Gbps bandwidth support Infrastructure Technopark (Trivandrum) Only park to be assessed at CMMI Level 4 1.5 mn sq ft spread across 242 acres More than 100 companies that employ 12,500 professional Leading companies like TCS, McKinsey and Infosys operate out of Technopark Around 117 acres promoted as SEZ Rentals lower by 60% and operational costs by 50% Infopark (Kochi) Completed in 2003 this is a 100 acre campus and the 4.80 lakh sq ft fully operational and sold out Over 30 companies employing over 3,500 professionals Wipro setting up a 25 acre campus Majors include Wipro, TCS, OPI and ACS Direct OF connection to the gigabyte router of VSNL Smart Business Centers (plug and play incubators) for start ups HR Advantage 25k engineers graduate every year

At the recently concluded NASSCOM meet in Mumbai, union minister for IT, Dayanidhi Maran observed that Trivandrum and Kochi as cities headed for growth. He mentioned the fact that the metros were suffering from an infrastructural congestion and Tier 2 and 3 cities were the places to be in. IT companies are seriously looking at Tier 2 and 3 locations. On that count, Technopark and Infopark has the tremendous potential to attract the attention as it has already created a robust infrastructure both physical as well as digital. V K Mathews, CMD, IBS Software Services says,"Kerala has been managing its infrastructure development to avoid the pitfalls of Bangalore and other IT metros. It is well connected physically and digitally. For the employees, it offers the benefits of a healthy environment, less polluted and less congested. A flexible regulatory framework, attractive incentives, and with operational expenses pegged at less than half the rate at comparable locations in India are other benefits that Kerala offers."

Agreeing with Mathews, Devapriya Perera, SVP and head, Trivandrum and Sri Lankan operations for Office Tiger says, "The best law and order environment with the lowest crime rate in India make Trivandrum the ideal destination for IT/ITeS investments. And all this, at a lesser operational cost than other locations in India." In Trivandrum, Office Tiger has a 24x7 delivery center, spread across 8,500 sq ft area at Technopark. The center currently houses over 350 professionals and plans to double its headcount by the end of the year.

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