TIDEL III gets a push for TN’s IT growth

For now, it is number two, behind neighbouring Karnataka and given the competitiveness of other states in wooing investors, TN government machinery has swung into action to go the extra mile to market itself as an investment destination even as it is trying out innovative ways of attracting investors. Further expansion of Tidel Park phase III is under way. 

Tidel Park, where the country’s first plug-and-play IT facility was set up in the year 2000, derived its name from the collaboration between Tidco and Elcot, the state’s nodal agencies to promote the single largest IT park in the country. With several large anchor investors “locking” their presence in the facility, the IT sector continued to grow at a phenomenal pace. Thereafter, Tidel II happened supporting the expansion of the existing facility, spread over a sprawling campus, housing the 13-storied facility. 

At a FICCI meet held recently in the city, Principal Industries Secretary Vikram Kapur said the demand assessment process is on so that the next expansion of Tidel III goes as per plans. “We are looking at further expansion of Tidel Park, which figures among the most affordable facilities,” he said. 

With the Education Minister K Pandiarajan stating that “we are not happy with the number two status,” the official chipped in to say that efforts are on to identify potential investors who could make the phase III expansion a viable one. 

“Tidel Park III is likely to come up on more than 45 acres of land in Pattabiram, west of Chennai. This project includes a five-star hotel, convention centre and residential flats apart from the IT park. Owned by the state government, the 45 acres of land is on the Chennai-Tiruvallur road and within easy access of suburban railway line and arterial roads,” reveals the information available in public domain. 

Dwelling on the IT development, the minister said locations such as Coimbatore, Madurai and Tirunelveli were able to emerge as IT hubs due to the presence of large anchor investors entering those regions. For instance, in Madurai, it is Honeywell and Solartis Technology Services that have led to the expansion activities and HCL is in the process of entering the temple town as an anchor client, he said.

Likewise, it is the entry of Wipro and two anchor clients in Coimbatore that have created the country’s fourth largest IT eco-system, Pandiarajan said, noting that Syntel in Tirunelveli and two large clients’ commitment in Pattabhiram (Avadi) with a potential to generate employment for 30,000 people, were proving to be the expanding footprints of IT sector. Even Ambattur, down south, has seen a shift with the “smoky” region that laid the foundation for the brick-and-mortar companies now being perceived as a hub for IT manufacturing. The 50 to 250 IT companies in dispersed locations were instrumental in the state gaining a firm hold in the  IT industry. 

Efforts are on to establish an industrial estate for services sector that would ideally combine the strengths of IT and services sector. This is being created right in Chennai with the first-of-its-kind services industrial estate set to sprout in Guindy, one of the oldest industrial hubs of the country. 

The minister also confirmed that the pre-GIM (Global Investors’ Meet) work had already begun. Earlier, in his address, Kapur had said that the last GIM hosted was one of the most successful ones in the country, where 98 MoUs (memorandum of understanding) had been signed during the “path-breaking” event. As much as Rs 2.42 lakh crore had been committed by investors across multiple sectors. With consistent follow up, 62 of the 98 projects were in various stages of implemented and over Rs 25,000 crore investments had “actually” happened, which was “no mean achievement.”