Telecommunications Science & Technology

The value of information technology (IT) software exports from Tamil Nadu rose by 29 per cent in 2008-09 to Rs 36,680 crore in 2008-2009 from Rs 28,426 crore, a year ago. The employment opportunities generated by Indias information technology (IT) should be dispersed to all parts of the state, according to Tamil Nadu Finance Minister, Mr K Anbazhagan. Information technology parks are being established in Municipal corporations like Coimbatore, Madurai and Trichy. TIDEL information technology Park at Coimbatore will be completed by May 2010 and will be established at an estimated cost of Rs 380 crore.

Syntel, Inc is planning to invest around US$ 50 million in its recently inaugurated global development centre located in Sipcot’s information technology (IT) special economic zone at Siruseri in Tamil Nadu. The centre, upon completion in the next two years, will provide jobs for over 10,000 professionals.

Significantly, the government has relaxed employment visa norms for the over US$ 60 billion information technology (IT) industry, allowing companies to hire foreign nationals as per their requirements.

Furthermore, the Indian information technology (IT) industry’s revenue from Germany, Austria and Switzerland could increase four fold to US$ 10 billion by 2020, according to a recently released NASSCOM report.

Delhi-based HCL Technologies Ltd has signed a US$ 500 million (Rs 2,225 crore) strategic pact with pharmaceutical major Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. (MSD) for a period of five years. HCL will offer software-led information technology solutions, remote infrastructure management, engineering and business and knowledge process services to MSD.

According to Ms K Ratna Prabha, Principal Secretary, Information Technology and Communications Department, Andhra Pradesh is targeting to achieve an export turnover of Rs 70,000 crore (US$ 15.8 billion) and create direct information technology (IT) employment for 125,000 people by 2015.The state level technical committee (STC), headed by the secretary, science and technology (S&T) department of the Government of Orissa, has cleared eight more solar power projects with an aggregate power generation of 230 mega watts (MW).

Significantly, the success rate of incubated companies in India is 60-70 per cent, comparable to that in America, according to ‘First Status Report on Technology Business Incubation’, the first such survey conducted by the Department of Science and Technology (DST).Meanwhile, technology company IBM has tied up with Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in Delhi and Roorkee to jointly promote research in areas of common interest, like green technologies, energy-efficient computing and data mining.