1st SEZ for IT infrastructure by KGISL
With an increasing number of IT companies eyeing Coimbatore as an ideal tier-II city for setting up operations, it has led to the formation of the first special economic zone (SEZ) in the ‘texcity’ exclusively for private IT/ITeS companies. The SEZ is being established by Coimbatore Hi-tech Infrastructure (CHIL), an SEZ infrastructure initiative promoted by KG Information Systems (KGISL). The company has obtained formal approval for the SEZ, which is coming up on a 150-acre land in Saravanampatty.“CHIL will offer facilities such as ready-to-occupy incubation space as well as leased-out land where companies can build their own facilities to match their business plans. Besides, it would also have amenities for commercial and social infrastructure, including hotels, residential accommodation and healthcare,” said Mr Ashok Bhaktavathsalam, MD, KGISL.Robert Bosch India (RBIL), Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) and Perot Systems India have taken space in the upcoming SEZ with a total of 50 acres for their own facilities. The remaining 100 acres is being developed at a total investment of about Rs 1,000 crore over three years, targeting small and medium IT companies in and outside Coimbatore. RBIL has taken around 21.88 acres in the SEZ. Perot Systems, that already has its BPO operations in the city on a 20,000-sq ft, two-storey structure, has taken over seven acres of land to construct its facility over two lakh sq ft within a year’s time. Officials in the CHIL told ET that IT major CTS is planning to have a built up space of two million sq ft as a plug-and-play facility that will be ready by July 2008. The company plans to develop 7.5 million sq ft in the first phase. CHIL general manager R Maheswaran said the company plans to build three million sq ft of office space over he next three years to accommodate around 30,000 employees.Maheswaran added that market studies showed that IT and IT-enabled service companies prefer these exclusive special economic zones rather than co-existing with other sectors like manufacturing in the same spcial economic zones.
