The Hindu : Tiruchi consortium to retrieve lost IT ground

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 17, 2002

Business

Business

Tiruchi consortium to retrieve lost IT ground

By S. Ganesan

TIRUCHI DEC. 16. After having missed out on the information technology boom elsewhere in the country, a group of entrepreneurs from Tiruchi is now planning to promote a consortium to retrieve lost ground.

The consortium, to be promoted under the auspices of the Tiruchi Information Technology Industries Association, will seek to leverage the potential in the IT sector, especially in business process outsourcing, the association president, N.P. Sukumar, told The Hindu here today.

The move comes in the wake of growing concern at the city's failure to make any headway in the IT segment. For all its reputation of being a seat of education and possessing abundant human resource potential, Tiruchi has failed to live up to its potential.

The prospect of achieving a Confederation of Indian Industry target of a Rs. 500-crore turnover in Tiruchi by 2004 appears remote, as only a handful of IT units have come up.

Even the establishment of a satellite earth station by the Science and Technology Parks of India, cited as a prerequisite to spur growth in the sector, has not enthused local entrepreneurs. In fact, the bandwidth offered by the earth station has hardly found any takers several months after its inauguration.

Industry sources say except the BHEL and the Regional Engineering College, no industry has taken bandwidth, though it was meant for export-oriented IT units.

However, industry sources argue that by the time the earth station was set up, the IT industry witnessed a downturn.

Some Tiruchi-based entrepreneurs, who entered the field, burnt their fingers and were lying low after realising that size and brand equity did matter, Mr. Sukumar said. With the industry now on a revival path, this was the moment to give a push through a cluster approach.

The TITIA had held a series of meetings and a task force was constituted to explore business avenues in BPO. A team undertook a study trip to Coimbatore and visits to Bangalore and Chennai were being planned. A project report had been prepared on the scope for medical transcription. There was good scope for call centres too, Mr. Sukumar said.

The association hoped to attract about 50-60 investors with an investment of Rs.5 crores. The feasibility of getting government support and attracting entrepreneurs from neighbouring towns such as Thanjavur and Karur would be explored.

The association planned to invite some corporates to have a nominal stake in the consortium.

"We are working on firming up the consortium within next three months and have already identified a senior IT professional to head it,'' Mr. Sukumar said. The association is working on establishing an IT-plaza to showcase the capabilities of industry players, he added.

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