Kerala Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan has said that the State was poised for a leap in information technology sector. The growth rate in the sector now was higher than in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharastra.
In an article released for publication, the Chief Minister said the State was heading for higher growth because of the infrastructure created by the present government. IT infrastructure developed by the government had increased by 81 per cent during the past four years against 31 per cent during the administration of previous government. The developed space grew to 105 lakh square feet against 19 lakh square feet in 2006 and 13 lakh square feet in 2001. The investment in the last two years alone exceeded Rs. 10,000 crore.
Mr. Achuthanandan that software exports from the State would cross Rs. 10,000 crore by 2015. When the present government came to power, the software export was of Rs. 480 crore. During the UDF rule, the exports had grown only by 200 crore while exports from other parts of the country recorded higher growth. During 2006-2010, the export from Kerala increased to Rs. 3,200 crore despite global economic recession. At 80 per cent, that was the highest growth rate in the country.
He recalled that the government had adopted a policy of decentralised IT development with three IT hubs and IT parks around them. This helped to prevent the negative environmental impact of large parks. As infrastructure alone would not bring about development, the government had made efforts for development of human resources. It took the lead to initiate a learning scheme starting with IT@School and ending with finishing schools. To encourage higher studies and research, it had drawn up scheme tilted Speed-IT.
The government had also been able to change the impression that IT was for getting outsourcing contracts. The IT policy now focussed on building a knowledge society.
