Govt give top priority to IT sector to generate employment for talented TN youth: PTR

CHENNAI: State IT Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan on Thursday said the Tamil Nadu government is taking proactive measures to attract leading investors and international IT firms to the State to open their offices to generate employment for the talented workforce in the State.

"The government is taking efforts to attract IT firms, which were migrating out of Hyderabad and Bangalore as part of a de-risking exercise, to the cities in Tamil Nadu. Going beyond the election manifesto, the government is taking efforts to create an ELCOT park or ELCOT tower in tier II cities. It depends upon the available resources and financial status. The government is also making efforts to attract IT firms from Bangalore and Hyderabad, which are looking for other options as part of the risk management exercise, to cities like Chennai, Coimbatore, and Madurai. Recently, the IT firms opened their office in Madurai," said the Minister while responding to AIADMK legislator A K Selvaraj.

He further said that the department would hold a two-day IT conference on the 23 and 24 of February to attract global investors from the USA, Australia European, and other foreign countries and exhibit the pool of talent in the State.

"We are also approaching the investors with TN's encouraging policies to the state, which accounts for 17% of the engineers in the country, " the Minister said.

The minister also responded negatively to Selvaraj's question whether the government would create an IT park in Karamadai municipality in Coimbatore during the question hours and said that the department created ELCO special economic zone at Vilankurichi in Coimbatore, which is close to Karamadai. WIPRO and TIDEL Park Coimbatore created their facilities there and employed 16,809 persons. Apart from this, the government is constructing an IT tower in a span of 2.66 lakh square feet at Rs 114.16 crore.

The government's sustained efforts have paid off as IT firms have taken 11 million sq ft office space on lease or rent in Chennai last year. It is a record as against an average of 4 to 5 million sq ft office space opened in a year in Chennai earlier.

"Now, we are taking efforts to better our performance and go beyond last year's record," the Minister said.

The previous AIADMK regime created Tidel Park in Chennai, Coimbatore, and Trichy. However, they commenced construction activities in Chennai and Coimbatore without obtaining environment clearance. It led to a legal dispute.

"Though there is a huge demand for office space in Coimbatore, we are unable to use the 2.5 lakh sq ft facility in the city due to the legal battle. Now, we are fighting legally to bring the facility to use. If we get the EC and open the facility, it will create employment for a large section of youth," the Minister.said,