Tiruchi is yet to attract big ticket investments from IT majors

Though Tiruchi, an important education hub in the State, is making a steady growth in offering Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES), the city is yet to make any significant progress in attracting Information Technology majors

Though Tiruchi, an important education hub in the State, is making a steady growth in offering Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES), the city is yet to make any significant progress in attracting Information Technology majors.

According to sources, it has been more than 20 years since small IT or ITES companies came set up facilities in Tiruchi. While some companies were operated in small offices, a few others were launched in large buildings. But the growth did not commensurate with the level of Tier-II cities such as Coimbatore and Madurai. The growth was not on the expected lines till five to six years ago. However, the growth trajectory seems to have moved to the next gear in the recent past due to the stabilisation in orders for software and I-T enabled services.

There has been a spurt in providing employment by the IT companies. However, most of them are working in ITES companies that function on the premises of the IT Park promoted by the Electronic Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) and private rental buildings in the Cantonment and Central Bus Stand areas. Omega Healthcare, V. Dart, and Capgemini were among the leading companies that have footprint in Tiruchi.

According to the sources in the Confederation of Indian Industry in Tiruchi, nearly 12,000 to 15,000 IT graduates have been employed in the IT and ITES companies in Tiruchi.

“We understand that Tiruchi is steadily attracting players in the field of Software Enabled Services and Information Technology Enabled Services. We expect a few more companies will set up their units. But we do not have big ticket IT companies. Most of the IT graduates, who work in Tiruchi, have been working in SES and ITES companies,” says M. Karthikeyan, Co-Convenor of MSME panel, CII, Tamil Nadu, who is also Director, Velmurugan Heavy Engineering Industries. Tiruchi.

He said that rapid progress would become possible if one or two anchor IT companies opened offices in the city. It was important to attract at least one or two leading companies such as Infosys, TCS or Wipro. The city had a large pool of talented IT graduates. Tiruchi could be developed as the next IT destination after Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai. The CII would portray the potential of Tiruchi to the IT sector. The State government should take steps to negotiate with the anchor players of the IT sector to open their units in Tiruchi.

An ecosystem to attract big IT companies should be created. The proposed TIDEL Park at Panjapur, a joint venture of Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO), and ELCOT, would certainly boost the IT industry. At least one IT major should come forward to make use of the advantages in establishing its unit in TIDEL Park, Mr. Karthikeyan added.