Dubai IT firm wants freehold land from Kerala government

September 8th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan Tuesday told the Kerala assembly that talks would begin with Smart City Dubai Wednesday to take forward the proposed Smart City Kochi software township project.

September 10th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - The two-day talks between the Kerala government and Smart City Dubai to take forward the proposed Smart City Kochi software township project turned out to be inconclusive, but both parties were confident that the deadlock would be broken. Emerging after the meeting, Chief Secretary Neela Gangadharan, who led the Kerala delegation, said discussions were yet to be concluded and would continue.

August 21st, 2009 KOCHI - Talks will resume next month with Smart City Dubai to take forward the proposed Smart City Kochi project, a Rs.1,500-crore ($316-million) software township, according to Fisheries Minister and project chairman S. Sarma. The Kerala government has intimated to Smart City Dubai - a Dubai-based company that is into setting up self-sustained townships for knowledge-based industries - that the talks could be held over two days between Sep 7 and Sep 10, Sarma told reporters here Friday.

September 10th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Kerala's IT sector will generate as many as 200,000 jobs in the next five years, state Chief Secretary Neela Gangadharan said Thursday. Inaugurating a conference on IT in Kerala - Challenges and Opportunities, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here, she said over 200 rural IT Parks (Techno Lodges) are expected to come up in the state in the next two to three years.

January 8th, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal government will give 25 acres land to scam-tainted IT company Satyam Computers in the state if they want it, Information Technology (IT) Minister Debesh Das said here Friday. 'If they want it, we will definitely give it.

September 15th, 2009 KOLKATA - Days after West Bengal scrapped an IT township project, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) Tuesday said the Left Front government needs to "re-prioritise" its policy of allocating land for industry and more importance should be given to information technology. NASSCOM chairman (eastern region) V.V.R.

July 27th, 2009 CHENNAI - The second phase of softyware park Infopark in Kochi, which may be developed under a public-private partnership (PPP) model, will come up over 160 acres, said a top company official here Monday. "We are getting into the second phase of Infopark's expansion.

October 10th, 2009 THRISSUR - Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan Saturday inaugurated the third IT park in the state - Phase 1 of Infopark Koratty - and said that nearly 200,000 jobs in information technology sector would be created in the next two years.

March 4th, 2009 BANGALORE - The city-based IT solutions firm Sonata Software has set up a wholly-owned subsidiary at Dubai Internet City in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as its regional hub for expanding its presence in the Middle East and Africa, the company said Wednesday. 'Operating from the Dubai Internet City free zone, we will provide value-based IT solutions and strengthen our presence in the region by targetting market segments such as travel, tourism, hospitality and construction industry,' Sonata managing director B.

January 8th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - The Orissa government will re-examine the application for land that the scam-tainted IT bellwether Satyam Computer wants for setting up a new unit in the state, a senior official said here Friday. The company sought land to set up a business process outsourcing unit, information technology department P.K.

June 15th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Cooperation in the IT sector between Singapore and industry majors in Kerala has received a major boost after a delegation from the Group of Technopark Companies (GTech) visited the city-state for talks with senior government officials and business lobbies. GTech represents the heads of all major IT companies in Technopark, which is home to more than 120 companies and employ close to 18,000 people.

January 27th, 2009 HYDERABAD - Leading pharmaceutical company Dr. Reddy's Laboratories has denied that the land it got on the outskirts of Hyderabad after acquiring Satyam Institute of E-business Ltd was assigned land or the state land meant for poor.

March 27th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - While India's overall software exports have slowed down on account of the global slowdown, those from Kerala grew 43.41 percent till February-end, fetching a revenue of Rs.2,300 crore. 'While the STPI (Software Technology Parks India) figures for the country show a growth of 17.62 percent till February-end this fiscal, software exports from Kerala have grown at 43.41 percent,' said an IT department official who did not wish to be identified.

May 14th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Companies based in the Technopark IT industrial park here will join hands with the Kerala government to strengthen the AIDS awareness campaign in the state, an industry official said here Thursday. The Group of Technopark Companies (GTECH), a body representing the chief executives of the Technopark firms, has adopted a corporate policy on HIV/AIDS that calls for strengthening the awareness campaign among among the member companies and employees, the group secretary, Satish Babu, said.

September 18th, 2009 KOCHI - The first phase of the Rs.600-crore Koratty information technology park in Kerala, being set up as part of the state government's plan to open IT parks in all districts, will be opened Oct 10. The project, coming up on 42 acres in Koratty in Thrissur district, is one of the fastest developed IT parks in the state, Siddhartha Bhattacharya, chief executive of Infopark Kochi, which is developing the project, told IANS.