Cyberpark houses 65 companies with about 1,100 direct employees
Kozhikode, NFAPost: Having bucked pandemic blues, as reflected by its growth last year, Cyberpark and UL Cyberpark in Kozhikode have helped the city to emerge as an attractive IT investment destination.
It boasted an export growth of 77% in FY 2020-21 and appears likely to repeat it this year as well. UL Cyberpark is yet another major IT park in the Malabar region, which is tapping advantages such as efficient air, road and rail connectivity to tier 1 city like Bengaluru and West Asian countries such as Dubai to accelerate the growth of its cyberparks.
Commenting on the growing stature of Kozhikode, Kerala State IT Parks CEO John M Thomas said software exports from companies operating out of Cyberpark have increased from Rs 14.76 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 26.16 crore in 2020-21.
“Kozhikode is poised for even greater growth in the years to come both because of the aggressive expansion plans of our existing IT companies and the new companies setting up IT footprint, including home-grown startups,” said Kerala State IT Parks CEO John M Thomas.
Cyberpark, which had started with four companies in 2014-15 now houses 65 with about 1,100 direct employees. “The existing building, which is predominantly covered under the provisions of the special economic zone, is 75 per cent occupied and expected to be full by March or April 2022. We have placed a proposal before the government for a new non-SEZ IT building, considering the growth trajectory we anticipate,” said Kerala State IT Parks CEO John M Thomas.
UL Cyberpark, developed by the Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society (ULCCS), has also scripted a growth story of its own over the years along with other cyber parks in the Malabar region.
Expressing happiness over the growing stature of Kozhikode city, ULCCS Ltd Group CEO Raveendran Kasthuri said UL Cyberpart has now over 80 companies employing over 2000 and are eyeing another 1500-odd jobs in the next couple of years.
“We also reported a remarkable export value of Rs37.66 crore in FY 2020-21. It is a matter of privilege for us to partner with Cyberpark in their efforts to significantly enhance the footprint of Malabar in the success story of Kerala IT,” said ULCCS Ltd Group CEO Raveendran Kasthuri.
NFAPost had visited Kozhikode last year as part of NFAPostStartupSafari to understand more the ground realities. The NRI population, especially those who came from the Middle East, has helped in building synergy for IT industry growth and the startup ecosystem.
Interacting With NFAPost, Prasoon Prahaladan said Kozhikode is blessed with a talent pool and proximity to a few business houses in the Middle East and they have given projects to companies consistently.
“The availability of talent pool is an added advantage of Kozhikode as the city has many engineering colleges and institutions which churn out IT talents for IT and ITES industry. Now we have to focus on other geographies for getting more projects, especially world is going through a 5G led tech disruption,” said Prasoon Prahaladan.
