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Thiruvananthapuram , Oct. 8

INITIATIVES for promoting Kerala as an IT investment destination have come in for a round of appreciation at a well-attended conclave of Chief Executive Officers of leading Indian and MNC corporates and management experts held in Kochi recently.

According to sources in the Kerala State IT Mission, the official implementing agency, participants of the conclave had reacted positively to a presentation on the State of the industry by Ms Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, Department of IT.

The gathering comprised, among others, Mr Ketan Sambath, President, Intel, Mr Srichand P. Hinduja and Mr Ashok P. Hinduja, Prof C.K. Prahalad, Mr Kanwal Rekhi, founder President of TiE, Mr Sridar Ayengar, Worldwide President of TiE, Mr Raj Desai, Executive Director, and Mr Vish Mishra, Director, TiE, Mr Prahlad Chabria, Chairman, Finolex Group, and Mr Saurabh Srivastava, Chairman, Xansa.

Mr Anil Kripalani, Senior Vice-President, Qualcomm, Mr Rajiv Dutta, Chief Financial Officer, eBay, Mr Sam Mathan, CEO, Amber Networks, and Mr Kiran Deshpande, Chief Technology Officer, Wibhu Technologies, were also present. The Kerala Minister for IT and Industries, Mr P.K. Kunhalikutty, extended the Government's wholehearted support to investors.

The Minister also said that the State was gearing to meet the manpower requirements of the industry. He highlighted various policy measures and infrastructure initiatives taken by the Government in recent months with the aim of providing an enabling environment for the industry.

The CEOs from Silicon Valley were appreciative of the fact that the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) had ranked Kochi as the second best destination for business process outsourcing. As much as 70 per cent of the country's Internet traffic had come to be routed through the VSNL gateway at Kochi.

The assembled CEOs also made known their willingness for committing investments in the State. According to Mr Ketan Sambath, Intel looked forward to working with the Kerala Government in its various IT initiatives.

"We find that Kerala has been taking a series of proactive measures to enhance ICT penetration. Projects such as Akshaya would be a significant step forward in establishing Kerala as a pioneering knowledge society in the country."

Prof Prahalad praised the efforts taken by the State Government in implementing the Akshaya e-literacy programme.

Emphasising the role of technological viability in ensuring economic progress, he observed that Kerala had in recent times managed to figure in the radar of the global IT industry. "With IT majors such as Infosys and Sify having announced their investment decisions and a few other majors keenly weighing their options, the State would benefit from an IT-driven growth during the next five years," he said.

Mr Kanwal Rekhi said he had been keenly observing the progress in IT in the State ever since his first visit in 1999 and expressed his appreciation on the `favourable' change in the mindset of the Government and the people in Kerala. He promised that TiE would provide all support to the State Government's endeavours in the field.

The Chief Secretary, Mr N. Chandrasekharan Nair, the Principal Secretary (Industries), Mr K. Mohandas, and the Managing Director, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC), Mr P. H. Kurien, were also present during the session.

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