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Tamil Nadu aims to become a leader in IT & ITES sectors: Dr Neeraj Mittal
Sep 24, 2021

Madurai 24 September: Tamil Nadu Government is to introduce e-office and the entire government departments will move on to the e-office shortly which would help the government to look at governance from data standpoint said Dr Neeraj Mittal, I.A.S., Principal Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Government of Tamil Nadu at CII Connect organised by CII Madurai Zone with the theme Southern Tamil Nadu as a Value-Added ICT Destination. 

He said that the southern districts of Tamil Nadu are in the forefront in attracting IT and ITES investment.  He added that the role of CII in bringing and shaping up southern districts as a favourable destination for retaining talents and creating jobs are really wonderful. He said that the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has given a mandate and direction for the State to become number one in ICT and IT technologies and in emerging technologies in the country, he added.

He urged ELCOT to partner with CII to identify the emerging needs of the future unicorn of India and understand their need, incentives, skills requirement, etc.

Mr Ajay Yadav I.A.S., Managing Director, The Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (ELCOT) said that the development of IT sector has been equally distributed to all places of Tamil Nadu. He said that ELCOT has collaborated with STPI on running a programme called FinBlue. He said that there is huge potential for Startups in our country especially in Tamil Nadu.

Mr V Vishnu, I.A.S., District Collector, Tirunelveli District initiated the discussion that early initiatives in IT in Tamil Nadu is started off from Tirunelveli a decade ago, group of aspiring entrepreneurs came together and wanted to start Tirukanveli (Similar to the Name - Silicon Valley). He stressed upon that the people who moved from Tirunelveli should come back to the root to serve this city for ex..Mr Shiv Nadar, Founder and Chairman Emeritus, HCL Technologies Limited. He urged the companies to leverage the advantage of Deep-down south Tirunelveli for the industry setup. Rich legacy of Educational Institution in the district and vantage portion of Airport & Seaport in Thoothukudi; Rail & Road connectivity from Tirunelveli to Bangalore & Chennai, he added. 

On way forward there should be a strong Industry & Academia connect after school and college. Expectation from the industry is different and not matching with academia, therefore the curriculum should be changed based upon the industry requirements. Industry partnership should be started after schooling, need for Incubators & Accelerators concepts under the smart city scheme in down south, this will motivate the students to get into the technological world. Under the smart city project, one of the ongoing projects is trade centre and global best practices of the Y Combinator that’s one of the best models available in the world, he added.   

Dr Sanjay Tyagi, Director, Software Technology Parks of India mentioned that the time has come for Tamil Nadu to take the leadership and IT, ITES export is concerned in the country. He complimented that one of the entrepreneurs from Tamil Nadu showed the way to all IT entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu and got into NASDAQ.  He said that 56% of all IT services jobs are outsourced to India.  We have achieved a remarkable feat; we need to nurture startup ecosystem in our country to the extent of more than a lakh startup in our country to the value of more than 500 billion dollars business which would provide huge employment to our people. Taking this further, STPI and ministry of electronics, Government of India have taken a step to set up a Centre of Excellence in the emerging technologies throughout the country by seeing the background of Tamil Nadu which has become Shares and Financial hub of the country and taken a very conscious decision to set up a Centre of Excellence on Fintech in association with government of Tamil Nadu.

Dr S Chandrakumar, Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu State Council in his address thanked the Secretary of Information Technology from the State for making significant thrust for the IT sector in Government of Tamil Nadu and taking the momentum to the next level and promoting Tamil Nadu as IT destination in India. Tamil Nadu being a pioneer in Information technology extending its borders across the state by strengthening the IT and ITeS sectors across the State, particularly in the tier II and tier III cities. The recent announcement of TIDEL parks in the Tier II cities not only generate more employment opportunities but also paves way for the regional balanced growth, he added.

Dr S Chandrakumar complimented the recent announcement of Tamil Nadu Government in the assembly on releasing a new Data Centre Policy, a new Global Centre Policy and Digital Tamil Nadu Project which would address the needs of localization, growth of e-commerce and customer needs.

Mr Josh Foulger, Country Head & Managing Director, Foxconn International Holding congratulated vibrancy of TN and consistency of the government as unmatched. He highlighted that the electronic manufacturing ecosystem has bound to grow in a 15-20% CAGR (compound annual growth rate).  He urged every entrepreneur to look at electronic manufacturing sector which would hit about 400 billion by 2025.

Dr Aneesh Sekhar, IAS, District Collector, Madurai District said that the government of Tamil Nadu has taken conscious steps in providing infrastructure in all places in Tamil Nadu. He agreed that the local administration need to take ownership and drive getting investment to their districts.  Also said that infrastructure, access, including capital, land, labour, and technology should be made available in each district to fulfil the aspirations of local people by the district administration. He made a remark that like OMR in Chennai, we need to create infrastructure in down south cities before attracting investment. He added that lot of other major companies from the ICT and IT sector are in a dialogue with the administration to move to the tier two and tier three cities. 

Mr B Subbaraman, Chairman, CII Madurai Zone and Vice President, HCL Technologies Ltd welcomed the gathering and said that there was huge potential in IT sector in Madurai with all eco system with group of companies in this region, working on forward looking technology, hard-core, embedded system, medical, aeronautics, manufacturing, medical support system which change our day-to-day life.  Industries in these sectors are performing well with the existing ecosystem. He requested the policy makers, thinkers to set a stage and give direction the future in this region.  

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