The Emerging Kerala summit that concluded here on Friday presented Infopark Kochi with valuable investment proposals for its second phase expansion.
Infopark Kochi Chief Executive Officer Gigo Joseph told The Hindu that two proposals have been received from Bangalore-based companies that evinced interest to associate with the second phase expansion as co-developers.
Without spelling out the specifics of the proposals, Mr. Joseph said the proposals will be sealed within a month.
“The investors will be given land to develop, which they can then lease out. The extent of land to be handed over to co-developers is yet to be worked out,” he said. Infopark’s emphasis was on finding maximum association from co-developers for future expansions, Mr. Joseph said.
The Infopark Kochi campus now has a built-up space of 3.2 million sq. ft. housing 80 companies, which employ about 17,000 people.
This space is in addition to the one million sq. ft. being developed by TCS and the 1.50 million sq. ft. to be developed by Cognizant.
Mr. Joseph said Emerging Kerala reflected the change in perception about the State among prospective investors.
It is now known that the IT industry in the State has reached a critical mass of 80,000 employees and that encourages companies to set up shop here, he said. Besides, companies are increasingly looking at tier-two cities.
“Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram are two destinations that immediately come to mind,” Mr. Joseph said.
Sector specific
Infopark proposes to set up a sector specific IT and IT-enabled Services Special Economic Zone as part of its phase two expansion on 160 acres in Puthencruz and Kunnathunadu villages. When executed fully, the phase two will generate 80,000 jobs. The expansion will be completed in three phases. Initially, a BPO Complex, a software development block and a convention centre would be set up at an estimated cost of Rs. 200 crore.
The total investment for the phase two expansion is likely to be around Rs. 2,500 crore.
Infopark also proposes to invest in the BPO complex; Rs. 200 crore and Rs. 75 crore would be invested in basic infrastructure and core infrastructure.
When completed, the second phase would provide a total built-up space of 8 million sq. ft. Taking into account the combined space provided by the IT parks at Koratty, Cherthala, and Ambalapuzha, the total built-up space at Infopark would be about 15 million sq. ft.
