Kochi: Union Minister for IT, Electronics, Law and Justice Mr Ravishankar Prasad on Sunday said that three important projects are lined up for Kochi under the Cental IT and Electronics Department to lift its profile in the two sectors. Addressing the media here he said that this include the Electronics Park for electronic gadgets and harware manufacturing which will come up at Kakkanad for which the Centre will grant Rs 50 crore while the state government will have to find the rest of the amount for establishing the park. It is learnt that KINFRA has already identified land for the park under Electronic Manufacturing Cluster project.
He also said that an incubation centre for start-ups will also come up at Kakkanad in 30,000 sq ft under the aegis of the Central Government at Kakkanad. “Kerala needs to aggressively push its IT profile and the Centre is willing to provide all support,” the Minister said. IT secretary M Sivasankar said that this incubation centre come up as part of the Technology Innovation Zone near Startup Village and the Software Technology Parks of India will assist the state in it. The Minister also exhorted the state government to strengthen the BPO industry in the state by utilizing the props given by the Central Government. “We are providing Rs 1 lakh subsidy on each BPO seat granted to the states based on population and Kerala has been granted 1,500 seats of which it has utilisied so far only 300 odd seats. The state should utilise this. Different states have been granted different number of seats based on population. It has to be taken to rural areas and small towns in Kerala to lift their profile,” he said.
He said that under Narendra Modi-led Government the IT sector has grown with FDI in the sector jumping from Rs 1500 crore to Rs 5900 crore while the Indian IT sector is now worth $15 billion. He also rejected suggestions that there is a decline in IT sector and quoted figures from IT companies like TCS and Infosys to reject that and also added that these companies are confident of adding more jobs in the coming years. “There could be some people losing their jobs, but they are incompetent people and that is part of the industry which is even applicable to journalists also,” he quipped.
