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MUMBAI, Feb. 18

THE recently concluded Global Investors' Meet (GIM) in Kerala has sent a positive signal to the investing community and the State has signed MoUs worth Rs 26,000 crore, according to its Minister for Industries, Social Welfare and IT, Mr P.K. Kunhalikutty.The Minister was in the city attending Nasscom 2003.

According to available information, six ITES/BPO companies have displayed significant interest in India and are aiming to expand their Kerala operations.

Mr Kunhalikutty said that apart from the interest expressed by majors such as Reliance, Infosys Technologies, Microsoft and Sutherland Technologies, interest had been evinced in such sectors as infrastructure, healthcare, education, tourism and IT.Under the IT@school project, 70 per cent of the 2,500 schools in the State already have the basic infrastructure in place and by December 2003, all the schools would be covered.

According to Ms Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Kerala, IT technology initiatives were centred around Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram.

The e-city project at Kochi project was due to get Rs 500 crore.

The Minister said that the whole approach to business in the State was changing, adding that the State Government also had the Opposition's support in this regard.

According to Ms Sundararajan, Kerala is keen on promoting a conducive environment for business and the GIM had sent out strong signals to this effect.

"The State has also put in place tough rules regarding disruptions by unorganised labour and customised the existing labour regime."

She added that the North-South Expressway had attracted interest from private players in Singapore, Malaysia and some West Asian nations.

According to Mr Kunhalikutty, Rs 600 crore has already been invested by NRIs and domestic investors in setting up professional education colleges and healthcare institutions.

He also said that Rs 2,500 crore had been invested in the last two years in information and communications.

"Areas such as biotechnology and food processing are also important; specific packages are being worked out to set up infrastructure for post-harvest operations and providing cold storage facilities throughout Kerala."

He added: "In fact, proposals to encourage farmers to grow cashew and vanilla crops had been put forward in the last Cabinet meeting."

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