Despite Covid, Tamil Nadu records Rs. 25,000 crore in IT exports in last 6 months : STPI Director

Despite all the challenges over the last six months, the IT industry in the state has managed to smoothly transition to work from home and is fulfilling all the commitment to their global customers apart from increasing the export growth of Tamil Nadu, a senior government official said on Saturday.

“I am very glad to inform you that we have shown Rs. 25,000 crore exports in the last 2 quarters of this financial year which is actually more than last year’s exports during these two quarters,” said. Sanjay Tyagi, Director, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI).

“So this is something which is phenomenal and the ICT have actually enabled the IT industry to operate from the home and the transition was very smooth,” he added.

He was delivering a special address at a virtual curtain raiser event for ‘CONNECT 2020’, the 19th edition of the premier annual conference and exhibition on Information and Communication Technology.

The five-day virtual conference is organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), jointly with Government of Tamil Nadu and co-hosted by STPI - Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), Government of India

This year’s theme

With ‘Technology as an enabler for getting back growth’ as theme, this year’s event is scheduled to be held between September 15-19.

“The government of Tamil Nadu has come up with Electronics Hardware Manufacturing Policy 2020 to increase the state's electronic output to $100 billion. This conference cannot be more timely and it will bring in more focus to the manufacturing sector which is already growing in the state,” Tyagi said.

In his special address, Hans Raj Verma, Additional Chief Secretary, Information Technology Department, Government of Tamil Nadu said that covid has given a renewed impetus and urgency for harnessing technology for social good.

Highlighting the need for creating jobs in rural areas, he said, “The next round of innovation and creativity will come from Tier 2-3 towns or hinterlands of Tamil Nadu.”

“Once we have the bandwidth through the Bharat Net project, we will have all the 17,000 villages with broadband connectivity and infrastructure. We have the talent also so we must create meaningful and sustainable jobs at village level,” Verma added.

Cutting edge

He also pointed out that this new gen trained manpower both for IT and ITes and Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector will give Tamil Nadu a cutting edge.

“The key is going to be collaborative and connective partnership. All the stakeholders must come together for the good of Tamil Nadu and cement its position as the thought leader and leading state in IT, ITes, electronics manufacturing and in general as the growth engine of the economy of the Union of India,” Verma added.

Suresh Raman, Chairman, CII Connect 2020 and Head of Chennai Operations, Tata Consultancy Services made a presentation highlighting the key features of the five-day virtual conference.