Central Govt’s nod for Electronic software parks at Kochi

The Department of Electronics and Information Technology of the central government has given its approval to the Kerala government for the proposed project involving the development of electronic software manufacturing clusters. The project is set to come up at Infopark as well as the Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA) land in Kochi. The project is planned to be undertaken under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.

Electronics and Information Technology department to provide assistance:

Talks were held between the Industries and IT minister of Kerala and the Electronics and IT department secretary in New Delhi with regards to the implementation of the project. The state government will be able to avail the technical and financial services provided by the Electronics and Information Technology department in this regard. This provision can be made use of following the new policy on electronics that was recently introduced by the central government.

Two clusters planned at Kinfra and Infopark:

Commenting on the proposed project, a state IT department official stated that proposals were already submitted for allotment of two clusters of the project, in Kinfra as well as in Infopark. Land for the cluster at Infopark in Kakkanad is available, while for the cluster at Kinfra, land needed to be identified. There is also a proposal for the development of an electronic park at Amballoor, which will be submitted to the Union government in the near future.

Estimated investment of Rs.500 crore:

The state government is awaiting the final approval of the Electronic and Information Technology department with regards to the implementation of the project. Once this is received, the state government will go ahead with preparing the detailed project report. It is estimated that the state government will require about Rs.500 crore for setting up of the two clusters at Infopark as well as at Kinfra.