The Hindu Business Line : Kolhapur to be developed as IT destination

IT plans
The Rs 150-crore project is being conceptualised and developed by international property consultants Knight Frank.
Promoters have land bank of 700 acres to develop the IT park.
Phase one of the project likely to completed in two years.

Pune , Dec. 11

After Pune city, Kolhapur could well be the next big destination for IT and ITES, with over 25 of the city's leading builders now pooling in their land to develop the city's first private sector information technology park.

The Rs 150-crore project, phase one of which will be in 22 acres, is being conceptualised and developed by international property consultants Knight Frank which has been roped in for the project's management.

With cities such as Bangalore, Pune and Mumbai now almost saturated in terms of space and unaffordable due to cost of leasing property, the Promoters and Builders Association of Kolhapur (PABK) is betting on the IT industry heading for destinations that are more affordable and less likely to have the high attrition rates that the existing IT hubs suffer from.

A total of 700 acres of land bank is available with the promoters who are planning to expand the project after gauging the response to phase one, work on which has already commenced.

With phase one of the project expected to be complete in two years, Knight Frank is already in negotiations with several IT majors including BPO biggie WNS, sources told Business Line.

The project is expected to be formally announced by the Chief Minister, Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh, in mid-December at a function in Pune.

For the IT industry, Kolhapur could well be a more viable and business- friendly destination with excellent infrastructure and easy connectivity to Goa, Pune and Bangalore, which are major IT hubs.

The Shivaji University churns out an estimated 650 engineers annually who currently have to leave their hometowns to find appropriate employment.

The project could prove beneficial since the Government is offering special concessions for this project including tax sops.

"For the IT industry this could be a win-win proposition since both the State Government and the Union IT Ministry are committed to promoting tier II cities as the next destination for IT,'' Mr Vivek Deshpande, Head, Project Management, Knight Frank, told Business Line.

STPI already has a marginal presence in the IT park business in Kolhapur with the US-based BPO SKL.

Kolhapur already has an industrial base, is known for its castings business and is also the strong hold of the State's sugar industry.

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