The recently concluded tenth edition of Bangalore IT.in 2007 had scores of realtors showcasing the infrastructure potential of their respective regions. Visualizing possible business opportunities, they had their eyes on the IT companies that participated in the event.

Some of the most successful examples of tech parks include EGL, ITPL in Bangalore, Tidel Park in Chennai, Hitec City (Cyber Towers) in Hyderabad, Hiranandani Business Park in Mumbai, DLF and Unitech promoted sites in Gurgaon. Some of the promoters like DLF, which is largely seen as a Gurgaon-centric player, are trying to spread their reach to other parts of the country, eying a big opportunity.

Also, bureaucrats and representatives from states like West Bengal and Tamil Nadu utilized this opportunity to showcase what their region had to offer in terms of infrastructure and space availability to the IT companies, reiterating that they would not go the Bangalore way, as the city is facing a problem of infrastructure crunch and manpower saturation.

The Drivers
For the Indian IT industry, which is growing at the rate of 20% per year, tech parks, both government run and private ones, have contributed a lot. Tech parks are playing a pivotal role in making Indian cities the preferred IT/ITeS destinations.

On the one hand, IT policies of respective states are making the business environment conducive for companies to set up shops, and on the other, the tech parks, by providing readymade offices with plug and play facilities, are encouraging the inflow of companies.

The big challenge of relatively new and emerging IT/BPO companies is to find fully furnished office space with readymade plug and play facilities, as major cities are facing the problem of space crunch and skyrocketing real estate prices. Thus, tech parks have mushroomed in major tier-1, tier-2, and tier-3 cities and offer world-class facilities. Tech parks are considered as a one-stop-solution for all corporate IT needs.

Take the Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj study, which reports that the total built-up area available in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi NCR, Pune, Kolkata, and Mumbai is 103,317,216 sq ft. Though majority of the tech parks are based in metros, the fact that they are also expanding into tier-2 and tier-3 cities cannot be denied. The study also reveals that, primarily, southern and western regions are witnessing many IT parks coming up.

For instance, in Tamil Nadus Coimbatore alone, the total built-up area of 2,001,717 sq ft is available, while in Tirunelveli, 500 acre, and in Madurai, 269 acre has been earmarked for setting up IT parks. In addition, 191.5 acre has been proposed in Hosur, while 165 acre and 147.61 acre have been proposed in Salem and Trichy respectively for setting up IT parks.

According to C Umashankar, MD, ELCOT, "The Tamil Nadu government has set up a three point agenda to provide a conducive environment for IT and ITeS companies across the state. The three main areas are superior infrastructure, quality human resource, and business environment across the state."

Similarly, in West Bengal, the total built-up area is 15,860,000 sq ft, with majority of IT parks coming up in cities like Salt Lake and New Town Rajarhat. In Andhra Pradesh, about 1,700,000 sq ft has been earmarked for setting up IT parks.

According to Siddharth, secretary, Department of Information Technology, government of West Bengal, "Additional built-up space of about 20 mn sq ft will be available in the next two years."

Several companies like Akruthi, Vascon Weikfield, India Lands, Techno Park, and Tidel Park have aggressive plans, and are offering ready built-up space to IT companies at attractive prices.

The SEZ Success Story
The Special Economic Zone (SEZ) system in India started April 2000, with a view to attract foreign investments, and handle the pitfalls faced due to multiple clearance and controls.

The SEZ Act, 2005 came into effect on February 10, 2006, with the objectives of creation of employment opportunities, generation of additional economic activity, promotion of exports of goods and services, development of infrastructure facilities, and promotion of domestic and foreign investments.

Thus, SEZs have been promoted as vehicles for achieving economic growth supported by state-of-the-art infrastructure and attractive fiscal packages, both at the state and the central level. More importantly, these SEZs have generated a lot of employment opportunities for the local youth.

A report prepared by the Department of Commerce states that by the end of December 2007, investment worth Rs 100,000 crore, including $5-6 bn FDI, would be generated. A total number of 500,000 direct jobs are expected to be generated by the end of December 2007.

The report also states that exports worth Rs 34,787 have been made from SEZs in 2006-07, up 52.3% from the previous years exports of Rs 22,840 crore. It has been projected that the value of the export will further increase to Rs 67,088 crore.

Some notable SEZs are Nokia SEZ, Flextronics SEZ, Mahindra World City, and ETL Infrastructure IT SEZ in Tamil Nadu; Quark City SEZ and Rajiv Gandhi Technology Park in Chandigarh; and Apache SEZ in Andhra Pradesh. As per the Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj study, the total built-up space for SEZs in the Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune is 5,093,216 sq ft.

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