Thaindian News

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 26 (IANS) Kerala is keen to log its presence on the IT map of India.
A high-powered delegation is headed for Hannover next month for the popular CeBIT 2009 exposition in a bid to forge strategic alliances with global players and attract foreign capital to boost its IT industry.

State IT Secretary Ajay Kumar and Infopark and Technopark chief executive Siddhartha Bhattacharya will be part of the delegation that will represent Kerala at the exposition in Germany from March 3-8.

The delegation will look at collaboration opportunities in developing and supporting the upcoming infrastructure for the 10 proposed IT parks in Kerala, and developing a talent pool as well as socio-economic infrastructure, Kumar told reporters here Thursday.

CeBIT, the world’s largest IT trade fair, is considered a barometer of the state of the art in information technology. Last year, the exposition attracted almost 500,000 visitors.

Bhattacharya said the delegation would showcase the state’s premier IT parks - Technopark, Infopark and Cyberpark - besides highlighting the upcoming seven spokes of IT parks under the hub-and-spoke model.

“Technopark and Infopark have been catering to a growing number of European clients and this event gives us an opportunity to strengthen our relationships with our existing clients and expand our footprint,” said Bhattacharya.

The state budget that was presented last week by Finance Minister Thomas Isaac has offered sops and has decided to defer 50 percent of the rent for the current fiscal.