Disconnect in God’s Own e-State as Infosys withdraws from Technocity project
Long after the God’s Own Country tag came along, Kerala earned the sobriquet God’s Own e-State when the largest ever information technology park in India took shape in the state capital.
However, one of the largest and most applauded IT companies who had set up shop in the state seems to be looking heavenwards of late, as the all powerful gods reclining in the administrative innards have failed to shower at least a handful of much-needed blessings. Infosys, who had great plans for the state, looks to be hitting the pause button!
The so called IT-friendly state that had been nursing tech dreams is accused of having not co-operated with the technology major even as the company went about charting plans for a major expansion.
Infosys had, back in April 2012, announced plans to come up with a second facility at the proposed Technocity, the pet name given to the Phase IV expansion of Thiruvananthapuram Technopark.
The company, which already has a sprawling campus in the Phase II of Technopark, was ambitious that it went ahead with this expansion plan. However, the latest news flowing out of the Infy boardroom suggests that the company would slam the brakes on this expansion plan.
The reasons spelt out by the company could well be a slap on the face of a state that boasts itself as one of the most proactive, tech-friendly destinations.
What Infosys has alleged is that the Technopark authorities have not been very keen on ensuring basic infrastructure facilities at the project site. This apart, the company did not want to stay quiet on the callous government stance and the non-cooperation of the Technopark authorities n this regard.
Infy’s charges have not gone well with the Technopark authorities, who have rubbished the allegations of non-cooperation. They, in fact, swear that the all facilities required to start construction in the acquired land had been ensured.
Technopark CEO K G Girish Babu, who revealed the Technopark side of the story to the media, said it is Infosys who hasn’t handed over the building plans as yet. The company hasn’t come up with any explanation on the delay too, which Babu termed as a violation of terms and conditions in the MoU.
Further, reports in the local media quoted the Technopark CEO as saying that the Infosys has failed to let the authorities know by way of a reply letter, to a reminder on this sent by Technopark around six months ago.
The authorities believe that Infosys is looking to only expand its existing facility and wasn’t keen on the proposed new campus as such. For them, the Infosys’ reluctance to go ahead with the second campus has come as a surprise simply because the company hadn’t complained of any lack of infrastructure any time in the past.
Whatever be the tussle about, Infosys seems irked. Kerala’s snail-paced manner of putting things to roll looks like ushering in bad news for the infotech industry in this part of the world. If Infosys can’t get things done, smaller players, who dream of striking it big, may have to toil it out for government support.
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