Urging the IT industry to expedite their projects in SEZs in the State, Deputy Chief Minister M. K. Stalin on Thursday promised to provide the sector world-class infrastructure.
Addressing the valedictory of ‘Connect 2010,' the annual ICT event hosted by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Mr. Stalin said the government was actively promoting IT SEZs and 19 of the 29 notified zones were functional. It was especially significant that Tier II cities were part of the overall growth in software exports that grew from Rs.161 crore in 1996-97 to Rs.36,680 crore in 2008-09.
The government was also focussed on making Chennai a destination of growth and development through projects such as greenfield airport, aerospace park, Metro Rail and Financial City.
“While growth is welcome, it creates its own problems of emerging bottlenecks…I assure you that the government will provide infrastructure of international standard,” Mr. Stalin said.
State IT Minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna said Tamil Nadu had the highest number of IT SEZs in India and the ICT industry collectively provided direct employment to about 3.24 lakh people.
Noting that the future growth of the sector lay in a broader and deeper integration with the State's strong base of auto, healthcare, entertainment industries, Dr. Poongothai urged the industry to go to tier-2 and tier-3 cities and create a level-playing field across the State.
S. Gopalakrishnan , Chairman, CII-Southern Region, said the IT industry would continue to grow and add jobs in the State.
The industry had done well in Tamil Nadu owing to support from the State government and academia.
S. Mahalingam, Chairman, Connect 2010, said some of the key ideas mooted included the need for creating a strong intellectual property foundation in the State, setting up of skill development centres and vocational institutes, and creating a world-class technology institute in Chennai for developing a conducive eco-system.
Earlier, the Deputy Chief Minister presented the CII-ICICI Venture Connect Entrepreneur of the Year Award to Madhava Reddy, founder-president and CEO, HTC Global Services, and the Lifetime Achievement Award to R. Ramaraj, co-founder and CEO of Sify.
Gopal Srinivasan, CMD, TVS Capital Funds, said the CII had instituted the entrepreneur award along with ICICI Ventures to recognise the contribution being made by IT entrepreneurs to the State's economy, employment generation and social development.
