The Hindu Business Line : TN plans second IT park at Siruseri

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Ms Jayalalithaa, presenting a kit to Mr B. Ramaraju, Managing Director, Satyam Computers Services Ltd, at Connect 2005 in Chennai on Thursday. Seen at left are the Chief Secretary, Mr N. Narayanan, and Mr D. Jayakumar, Minister for Law and IT. — V. Ganesan

Chennai , Sept. 8

THE Tamil Nadu Government plans to develop a second information technology park at Siruseri, along the Old Mahabalipuram Road.

The Chief Minister, Ms Jayalalithaa, made this announcement today while inaugurating Connect 2005 - a two-day event on information technology, communications and technology - organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

"We have run out of space in the Siruseri IT Park," she said. Work would also shortly commence on an IT park at Coimbatore, for which land had been allotted to the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu, a State Government undertaking.

(The IT park at Siruseri now is spread over 1,000 acres and has been developed by the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT), a State Government undertaking. A number of IT companies, including Xansa, Tata Consultancy Services, Polaris Software Lab Ltd, Syntel and Cognizant Technology Solutions have taken up space in this place.)

It is learnt that the second IT park at Siruseri will be spread over 500 acres.

Highlighting the IT potential of Chennai, the Chief Minister said the fact that 5.2 million sq ft of space for the IT industry was under construction in the city indicated the boom. There were more than 40 IT parks coming up in the public and private sector. Another 11.8 million sq ft of space was on the drawing board, she said and added that the Government was working fast to improve infrastructure to keep pace with the growth in built-up space for the IT sector.

Ms Jayalalithaa also launched the Knowledge Industry Township, an idea that was mooted by the CII.

She handed over land documents to three companies - Wipro Ltd, Satyam Computer Services Ltd and HCL Technologies Ltd. The knowledge industry township was meant to not only attract software companies but also other knowledge industries such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and hardware. Besides, there would be substantial research activity undertaken in the township.

Sounding upbeat about Tamil Nadu's prospects in the IT sector, the Chief Minister said software exports from the State more than trebled to Rs 10,703 crore in 2004-05 from Rs 3,115 crore in 2000-01. The number of software units had grown to 1,266 in 2004-05 and "we are adding a new software company every three days", she said.

Ms Jayalalithaa said the range and depth of software exports created confidence that the IT industry was on a stable platform that had potential for even greater growth. In 2004-05, application software accounted for 61 per cent of software exports, system software 12 per cent, IT-enabled services (other than business process outsourcing) 10 per cent, Business Process Outsourcing 5 per cent, product development 3 per cent and other sectors 9 per cent.

Apart from being home to almost all the major domestic IT companies, all of whom were expanding their presence in the State, the hardware segment was also humming with activity as international hardware players set up base in Chennai. "Nokia's arrival at Chennai, and a host of other manufacturers, signals the beginning of manufacturing being reinvented at Chennai, for the information technology sector," she said. The Government, she said, had sent an official delegation to Taiwan noting their interest in investing in the hardware sector in the State.

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