Infrastructure

Information Technology

Information and Communication Technology sector has been playing an important role in the development of the State, since the 9th Five Year Plan. Realising its potential and critical importance, the State Government has made earnest efforts to create a sound and world class infrastructure for the sector and to transform the State into a digital one. This has enabled the State to be at the forefront in implementing Information and Communication Technology projects, e-governance initiatives, e-literacy programmes and in the creation of basic IT infrastructure facilities. Currently the State has nationally the highest mobile penetration of about 32 million connections, the highest internet penetration covering about 20 per cent of households through broad band and another 15 per cent through mobile, and is making significant strides in transforming the State into a knowledge powered economy. Kerala is one of the significant IT destinations in India and ranks 8th in the export by STPI registered IT and ITeS units. Moreover, Kerala is fast emerging as a digital State in India.

Government of Kerala acknowledges the critical importance of ICT in creating and maintaining economic progress and revised the Information Technology Policy for the State in 2012. The vision of the State’s policy is to “plan, develop, and market the State as the most preferred IT/ITEs investment/business destination in India”. The State Government supports the sector by way of single window clearance, developing Kerala “IT Brand”, incentivising investment and making direct investment.

The Indian IT Industry has had an impressive track record in terms of revenue growth and export contribution over the past few decades. It has also contributed in generating employment. While India continues to be a global leader in IT services, it has not had much success in the IT products segment and with traditional export markets
stagnating, the Indian IT Industry is in the look out for new markets. New markets are expected to emerge in lower and lower-middle countries such as India, other countries in South Asia and Asia-Pacific and Africa, which have previously been on the periphery of ICT consumption.

Kerala State Information Technology Mission (KSITM), Indian Institute for Information Technology and Management – Kerala (IIITM-K), Technopark, Infopark, Cyberpark, Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Ltd. (KSITIL),International Centre for Free and Open Source Software (ICFOSS) and Kerala Start-up Mission are the major agencies involved in the implementation of Information Technology programmes in the State under the Information Technology Department.

The State Government envisages expansion of IT industry in the State in a manner that benefits all the districts in the State. A hub and spoke model has been planned. Thiruvananthapuram (Techno Park), Kochi (Info Park) and Kozhikode (Cyber Park) will act as hubs and the remaining districts will be the spokes.

Govt of Kerala provided an amount of 482.87 crore during 2016-17 for the development of core IT infrastructure, ITeS, e-governance activities and incentivising investment in the sector, which is 28.91 per cent higher than the previous year. The details of Plan Outlay and Expenditure are given in Table 5.18.

Table 5.18
Plan Outlay and Expenditure, in lakh

Source: State Planning Board

Kerala State Information Technology Mission (KSITM)

Kerala State IT Mission is a society registered under the Travancore Cochin Literary Scientific & Charitable Societies Registration Act. It is an autonomous nodal IT implementation agency of the Department of Information Technology, Government of Kerala which provides managerial and technical support to various initiatives of the Department.

The major objectives of KSITM are interfacing between the Government and the industry, interacting with potential investors, strengthening the IT/ITeS industry base, holding promotional campaigns in the State, ICT dissemination to bridge the digital divide, e-governance, developing human resources for IT and ITeS and advising the Government on policy matters. As a result of these proactive policies and projects, Kerala achieved major progress in the transformational journey towards “Digital State”. Some of the major achievements are shown below.

• Kerala emerged as the first digital State in the country, announced by the Hon’ble President of India in February 2016.
• Govt. of India commissioned India’s first Hi-speed rural Broadband Network in Idukki.
• First State in the country to issue over 2.4 crore e-certificates.
• 100 per cent of the Grama Panchayats are connected through optical fibre network
• Over 2600 Akshaya Centres (CSCs) functioning in the State.
• Over 3.44 crore Aadhaar enrolments.
• Adoption of Aadhaar based identification and Direct Benefit Transfer services
• Established CERT-K in 2010 to improve State’s cyber security posture
• 100 per cent compliance to civil registrations on time
• Over 9000 ATMs across the State enabling ease of access to Banking
• High tele-density of 99 per cent, with a rapid increase in the usage of smart phones.
• High internet penetration of 40.18 per cent.
• Over 30,000 km OFC laid across the State.

E-governance Programmes of KSITM

In the present world, e-governance is an important tool for good governance by achieving transparency, reliability, and accountability in rendering services. Kerala has been a forerunner in e-governance and mobile governance by promoting and developing core infrastructure and e-literacy programmes.

E-governance initiatives under KSITM include e-office, Service plus, FRIENDS, Akshaya, SEMT, Citizen Call Centre, SPARK and e-procurement. E-Office aims to conduct office procedures electronically thereby transforming government offices to paperless offices and bringing out the benefits of digital communication that ultimately leads to faster decision making. So far it has been implemented in 39 out of 42 departments in Secretariat and outside Secretariat 21 departments either fully or partially. The Government has decided to roll out e-Office to Districts and Directorates.

Service Plus is a software designed and developed by NIC, under Ministry of IT, to configure and launch e-services quickly using its flexible workflow and provision for dynamic design of application forms.

Core infrastructure for e-governance in the State consists of Kerala State Wide Area Network (KSWAN), Secretariat Wide Area Network (SECWAN), State Data Centre and State Service Delivery Gate way. KSWAN is the backbone of the State Information Infrastructure (SII), connecting 14 districts and 152 Block Panchayats of the State. The network will also connect 3500 offices of Government Departments through Wireless and a larger number through leased lines and LAN.

Akshaya is an innovative project launched on November 18, 2002 to bridge the digital divide and it works on public private participation mode. In the initial stage the objective of the project was to make at least one person in a family e-literate. Gradually focus of Akshaya shifted to citizen service centric mode. At present, 2628 Akshaya Centres are functioning across the State giving employment to 7476 persons. The total turnover of Akshaya Centres in the State was 41.74 crore in 2014-15 which increased to 53.08 crore in 2015-16. Total turnover of Akshaya Centres as on October 31, 2016 was 39.73 crore. The details of Akshaya Centres in Kerala are furnished in Appendix 5.54.

Source: KSITM

Awards and Accolades

• SKOCH Award 2016:- KSITM won the prestigious SKOCH 2016 National Award
• Platinum Award:- KSITM won Platinum Award for Digital Empowerment Campaign Project
• Order of Merit Award:- KSITM won Order of Merit Award for e-Voter Mobile Application, Akshaya Citizen Services and Kiosk Banking of Akshaya
• IT Innovation Award 2016:-The e-voter mobile application by KSITM has bagged the NASSCOM-Kerala Management Association’s best IT Innovation Award 2016
• E-India Award 2016:- For digital literacy through Student Police Cadets

Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management – Kerala (IIITM-K)

The Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management – Kerala was set up in the year 2000 as a premier institution of excellence in Science, Technology and Management. It emphasises quality education to students and develops professionals and leaders of high calibre of entrepreneurship and social responsibility. The institute focuses on education, research, development and training in applied information technology and management. The academic programmes of IITM-K are shown in the Box.

The MPhil and MSc degree are awarded by Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) and post graduate diploma by Directorate of Technical Education, Government of Kerala. The major projects completed are biometric embedded system security and internet of embedded things, software engineering and software project management unit and library and information service. Construction of a full-fledged residential academic campus for IIITM-K as per UGC/AICTE norms is in progress.

Technopark

Electronics Technology Parks – Kerala, popularly known as Techno Park was setup under Government of Kerala as an autonomous body to create global standard infrastructure and to provide total support required for development of high technology industries. It was formally dedicated to the nation on November 18, 1995. Since then Technopark has been growing steadily both in size and employees strength. With the commissioning of Phase III, Technopark will become the largest IT Parks in India with 330 acres of land, 9.3 million sq.ft built up area and 52,000 IT/ITeS professionals. Technopark through its companies, currently provide direct employment to 52,000 IT employees and offers an indirect employment for another 1,50,000 numbers. Technopark has charted out an ambitious target of creating 56,000 new jobs by 2020. Details of physical achievements and growth of Technopark are given in Appendix 5.55 and Appendix 5.56.

Source: Technopark

Growth of Built up Space in Technopark

The built up space in the Technopark has increased from 46.5 lakh sq.ft in 2010-11 to 72 lakh sq feet in 2015-16. The growth of built up space in the Technopark is shown in Figure 5.12 .

Figure 5.12
Growth of Built-up Space in Technopark

Source: Technopark

Companies in Technopark

There has been an increase in the number of the companies working in Technopark for the last five years. In 2010-11 there were 200 companies in Technopark. It increased to 390 in 2015-16. Gradual growth of number of companies in Technopark from 2010-11 to 2015-16 is exhibited in Figure 5.13.

Figure 5.13
Number of Companies in Technopark

Source: Technopark

Growth of Export from Technopark

The exports from Technopark increased from 2,171 crore in 2011-12 to 6,250 crore in 2015-16. It grew by 22.55 per cent in 2015-16 as compared to 2014-15. The trend in export from Technopark during the last six years is depicted in Figure 5.14.

Figure 5.14
Export from Technopark

Source: Technopark

Growth of Employment in Technopark

The growth of Technopark can also be analysed in terms of employment generated during the last six years. The employment generated increased from 30,000 in 2010-11 to 38,000 in 2011-12, 40,521 in 2012-13, 45,395 in 2013-14, 47,100 in 2014-15 and to 51,865 in 2015-16 (upto October 31, 2016). The growth of employment generation for the last six years is shown in Figure 5.15.

Figure 5.15
Growth of Employment in Technopark

Source: Technopark

Infopark

Infopark, Kochi is the second largest IT hub in Kerala with spokes at Cherthala and Thrissur and spread over 321.86 acres of land and 6.96 million sq.ft built up area. At present 282 companies are working in Infopark. It provides direct employment to 32,800 professionals. Export turnover of Infopark for the financial year 2015-16 was 3,328.80 crore. At present Infopark has the following IT Parks:

• Infopark Kochi – Phase I- Phase I is completed in all respects and around 25,000 employees are working in this campus.
• Infopark Kochi – Phase II – An extent of 125 acres has been acquired and is in the possession of Infopark. 102.7 acres of land are in SEZ area.
• Infopark, Thrissur - It is located at Koratty in an extent of 30 acres of land. 18 acres are in SEZ area. The first phase of development consisting of renovation of 8 buildings having a built up area of 45,000 sq.ft and modifying them as IT buildings has been completed. Currently, around 700 IT employees are working in this spoke.
• Infopark, Cherthala – It is spread over 66 acres of land with 60 acres in SEZ area.Construction of 2.4 lakh sq.ft IT building at Infopark, Cherthala SEZ has been fully completed along with basic infrastructure such as 110 kV substation, internal roads, sewage treatment plant, water storage tanks, and boundary walls. There are 31 IT companies functioning in the park and thereby generating 600 direct employment.
• Infopark TBC – A built up partly fitted space of 25,800 sqft was taken over from KSITM by Infopark in the year 2013, at Kaloor international Stadium. Infopark undertook necessary balance fit outs, modifications/rectifications in the fitted out space and now the facility is mainly used for providing office space for startup companies. Around 400 IT employees are working in Infopark TBC.

The physical achievements of Infopark are furnished in Appendix 5.57

Cyberpark

Cyberpark was established on a hub and spoke model to bridge the IT infrastructure gap starting from Kochi to Kasargod along the west coast in the lines of Technopark in Trivandrum and Infopark in Kochi. The Cyber Park, Kozhikode acts as the hub and the parks in Kannur and Kasaragod are the spokes for the IT and infrastructure development of the northern region in the State of Kerala. The objective of Cyberpark is to provide a friendly, cost effective and top of the line infrastructure to the IT/ITeS investors and thereby encouraging, promoting and boosting the export of software/software services and create employment opportunities in Malabar region.

Cyberpark is the largest IT park in the northern region of Kerala with 41.88 acres of land in Kozhikode, 25 acres in Kannur and 100 acres in Kasargod. Out of this 115 acres of land is in SEZ area and 14.38 acres is in non SEZ area. Now 4 companies are working in the SEZ area which provides direct employment to 55 IT professionals. The physical achievements of Cyberpark are given in Appendix 5.58.

Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Ltd (KSITIL)

Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited (KSITIL) is a public limited company formed under the Companies Act 1956. The company leverages the valuable land assets owned by the Government and through viable financial models, generates enough funds and utilizes the same for building up of IT Infrastructure in the State in a Private Public Participation model. The business model for the company is to acquire land, create value addition to it, providing basic infrastructure like electricity, water, road and compound wall, obtain SEZ status and such other Government approvals that may be required and then allot land to private developers for development of either IT SEZ or IT parks.

Major ongoing projects of KSITIL are Kozhikode IT Park, Kannur IT Park, Kasaragod IT Park, Kollam IT Park, Koratty IT Park, Cherthala IT Park, Ambalapuzha IT Park, Infocity Pala, IIIT-Kerala, Malappuram IT Park, Technolodges and Ritel Park. There are 77 companies working in these IT parks and gives direct employment to 1588 professionals.

International Centre for Free and Open Source Software (ICFOSS)

Government of Kerala established International Centre for Free and Open Source Software (ICFOSS) as an international centre in collaboration with Free Software Organisations in India and abroad to promote development and application of free software and free knowledge. It is a nodal agency in all matters relating to free and open source software including consultancy, research and development, academics, studies and service, training, publishing, certification, international co-operation and collaboration.

Source: ICFOSS

Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM)

Kerala Start up Mission (KSUM) is the nodal agency of Government of Kerala for implementing the entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the State. Kerala Start up Mission, formerly known as ‘Technopark Technology Business Incubator’ is India’s first successful Non Academic Business Incubator. It started operations in 2007.

The objective of the Mission is to identify and develop entrepreneurial talents among youth and students in Kerala, address the technology based entrepreneurship development requirements in the traditional sectors of Kerala, build appropriate training programmes suitable for Kerala’s socio-economic culture, identify market niche for technology products and services, interfacing and networking among academic, R&D institutions, industries and financial institutions, establishing a platform for speedy commercialization of the technologies developed in the institutes to reach the end-users.

Government of Kerala has introduced Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme targeted to foster entrepreneurship skills among the youth in Kerala which includes key initiatives like Raspberry Pi Programme, Startup Box Campaign, Startup Boot camp, Start up Leadership Academy and Training programme, International Entrepreneurial Exchange Programme, FABLAB Programme, Entrepreneurship Driving Programme, Performance Linked Scheme and Patent Support Scheme. In addition to the above Government is creating a Technology Innovation Zone at KINFRA Hi Tech Park, Kalamassery with multiple sectors of incubators under a single umbrella.

Concerns for IT Sector

Post 2009-10 recession, the industry is yet to pick up momentum and IT majors are reluctant in making capital investments. The global IT growth is facing a slowdown in turn affecting the Indian IT industry. Export revenue figures from SEZ shows a decline from last fiscal and the growth projection of 15 per cent in the sector as per NASSCOM were also not achieved. The profit declared by IT majors declined. In addition to this, the following uncertainties can considerably impact the IT sector.

• US election: Though India is still the world’s favorite IT outsourcing destination, enjoying over 65 per cent of market share, US is still the single major client (56 per cent). With the elections and subsequent policy change, it can affect India’s software exports to the country to a big extend.
• Brexit:- After USA, India does maximum business with UK. With the decision of Britain to exit European Union, the impact can be substantial, which is yet to be fathomed.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which was adopted by the United Nations in September 2015 acknowledges individual nations and local communities as critical in implementation and design of their respective development policies and programmes. With a relative advantage and rich experience of decentralization leading to positive development outcomes, Kerala can look towards leadership position in ICT and Development (ICTD), products and emerging ICT markets.