An affordable start-up space is still a dream for many of the young techies from the Malabar region who want to build a career in their own land. Though two major IT parks in Kozhikode - one in the government sector and the other in the private sector - are set to expand wings for the Malabar’s technology leaps, aspiring entrepreneurs in the field lament that bigger establishments are always eyeing at multinational companies to broaden their market gains.
“To be frank, none of our IT parks are that much start-up friendly as was propagated. Even those set up in our own land are waiting for multinational companies,” says K.T. Abdulla, a techie from Kozhikode who has been in search of an affordable start-up space to step into the industry. He says the space offered in the developing IT parks in Kozhikode is hardly affordable for new entrants.
Mr. Abdulla, one among such several youths in the city, believes that providing start-up space suitable to the requirement of small ventures will bring bigger opportunities for the youths. “Why should one opt for a 1,100-sq.ft office space when he actually needs just 300 sq.ft to begin operations? We have very limited options for such affordable customisation in our homeland,” he points out.
Though the government cyber park in the city is offering space at a comparatively cheaper rate, young professionals in the sector say that it hardly fits to the budget of budding professionals. They say that a government that boasts of giving considerable support to start-up ventures should at least offer a concessional rate for developed space in IT parks under its own control.
A young IT entrepreneur from the city, who manages his small venture in a rented building in the city, says the government cyber park in Kozhikode offers space now at ₹45 per sq.ft, which is hardly an attraction as private IT parks too offer it with an additional ₹10 per sq.ft in Kerala. Also, there is no option now in the government cyber park to avail of customised space below 500 sq.ft, which is certainly a blow to small-budget start-ups from the Malabar region, he says.
P.R. Sarin, a youth specialised in web content service across Kerala, says he has been struggling to get a space in the government IT parks in Kerala because of the inflexible rules and heavy rental contracts. “At first, we have no easy application format to begin such start-ups for youths from all areas of specialisation other than jut engineering graduates. Secondly, no financial support is now available to meet the initial investments that mainly include security deposit for the space and the amount needed to clear the technicalities including registration and project report preparation, he points out.
However, a senior officer with the Department of Information Technology, says that many of the apprehensions in the IT sector will be addressed with the latest IT Policy Framework-2017. “The policy promises to create one crore sq.ft office space to give employment directly or indirectly to 2.5 lakh people,” he adds.
