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Karnataka CM helping Kerala realise IT dream

George Iype in Kochi

After lagging behind in promoting information technology as a core development area all these years, Kerala has kick-started new initiatives to boost IT investments into the state. And the state's new poster boy for the IT mission is not Chief Minister A K Antony, but Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna.

As the Kerala government launched one of the country's largest information technology fairs on Thursday, the man who has been brought in to inaugurate the IT expo and lure IT investment into state was the Karnataka chief minister.

In the last few months, Antony has been deputing his Information Technology Minister P K Kunjalikutty and other top officials to Bangalore quite often to meet with Krishna and his IT team. Their brief was to learn from the success story of India's Silicon Valley that the Karnataka chief minister has accomplished in Bangalore.

Officials say Krishna is now Kerala's most trusted advisor to help the state to realise its IT fortunes.

"That both Krishna and Antony are good friends and Congress chief ministers has helped. Antony has realized that a helping hand from Krishna is essential to achieve the IT edge that Kerala lost all these years," a senior official in the Kerala government told rediff.com.

Over the years neighbouring southern India states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu zipped past Kerala in wooing IT investment.

While hundreds of international and national technology companies have set up shop in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, Kerala does not have any big IT name to boast of though the state holds the distinction of launching the country's first technopark at Thiruvananathapuram years ago.

For instance, officials point out that Kerala's IT exports in the last one year were less than a paltry Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion), while Karnataka's IT exports stood at more than Rs 9,000 crore (Rs 90 billion).

In an effort to boast the IT investment into the state, a few months back the Antony government launched a new IT policy classifying all information technology units as public utilities eligible for various trade benefits and incentives.

The Kerala chief minister and his officials have been trying to woo IT investment into the state through the new policy, without much success. Thus, officials say, the Kerala government's decision to join hands with Karnataka to kick-start its IT initiatives is 'a last-ditch effort.'

Minister Kunjalikutty says the Kerala government has been holding detailed discussions with Krishna and his team for joint ventures in IT and bio-technology. "Bangalore is the leader of the IT industry in the country. We found it ideal to emulate the leader and the Karnataka chief minister has always been offering great help and direction to us," Kunjalikutty pointed out.

It is not Krishna alone that Antony depends on these days to fulfill his IT dreams in Kerala. Congress party's economic cell convenor Jairam Ramesh is also helping the Antony government in coordinating the Kerala-Karnataka activities in IT and biotechnology initiatives.

Kunjalikutty, who led a high level official team to tour the United States to woo investment to the state, points out that Kerala is ready with a red carpet to welcome IT companies.

"Kerala has everything that an IT company can dream of. The best fibre optic connectivity, finest telecom infrastructure, abundance of human resources and an excellent law and order system compared to other states makes Kerala the ultimate destination for IT companies," the minister claimed.

The ongoing IT Kerala 2002 fair, Kunjalikutty said, will showcase the state's IT capabilities. Antony and his minister have ensured political consensus in the IT development strategies they have embarked upon.

One of the prominent guests in the IT Kerala 2002 fair inaugurated on Thursday was Communist Party of India Marxist leader V S Achuthanandan, the state's opposition leader.

Officials said that the IT mela (fair) is just a precursor to other major investment shows that the Antony government is planning.

The state government is getting ready to launch its first-ever Global Investors Meet in October to woo foreign investment into various sectors.

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