Coimbatore facilities are still needed in IT sector Coimbatore facilities are still needed in the IT sector
Essayist, Ph.D., Coimbatore President, Confederation of Indian Industry, RVS, Group Managing Director, TransformTech, Chief Executive Officer, MBA from Texas A&M University, USA. Senthilganesh. He narrates:
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The number one requirement of the IT industry is skilled manpower. For Coimbatore, over 40 years, the higher education sector has been built into a strong and prosperous one.
Coimbatore educational institutes produce qualified quality software engineers. In the field of higher education, Coimbatore has more than 10 nationally ranked educational institutes in both arts and engineering. In another 5 years, it will increase to 25. This is the major driving force and strength of Coimbatore’s IT sector; is going to be
Cities of focus
‘Low cost of production’ has become a huge opportunity for the growth of the IT sector in India. If a software project costs US$100 in US and Europe, the same work can be completed in India at US$30-35.
Big cities like Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai took advantage of this opportunity to flourish in the IT sector. Currently, the IT sector is growing in secondary cities like Coimbatore and Madurai. Qualified manpower is available at lower cost in secondary cities than in metro cities. During the Covid pandemic, the ‘work from home’ culture has become popular.
Whereas, companies like ‘Joho’ don’t care about English language skills as long as they are technically savvy; They are moving the IT sector towards the villages on the basis that it is enough to speak regional languages.
Such environments are a great opportunity for secondary cities like Coimbatore. Government support is also good for secondary cities. Government organizations including ‘Start Up Tamilnadu’, ‘Guidance’, CII, etc. are providing awareness seminars and grant assistance.
Proliferating ‘Start Ups’
The IT sector can be seen in two divisions. The first is service providers. These have already grown in Coimbatore. Second, software manufacturing (product) companies. Other providers of software or technologies to industry. The growth of such SAS (SAAS) companies will be huge in Coimbatore. With the support given to this sector by the government and the private sector, start-up companies will proliferate.
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Startups in Coimbatore are booming. Private, start-up incubators, government incubators are growing very well. In coming times, government support will increase even more.
Educational institutes and industrial institutes
When branches of multinational companies, known as ‘captive’ companies, are established here, they themselves develop what they need, such as research and development and design. More such power centers (Global Capability Center) and Delivery Centers are coming up here.
In Coimbatore, Bose and Cognizant run these centers. By collaborating with such centres, educational institutions can produce ‘industry-required graduates’.
What are the challenges?
Coimbatore is already flourishing in many sectors like manufacturing, hospitality, education and medicine and continues to grow. Not only this, in order to grow in fields such as IoT (Internet of Things) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), which belong to the modern age industry, CI is used in activities such as increasing the competitiveness of existing sectors by using these technologies. Organizations including I. are paying attention.
Coimbatore’s lack of international flight services is a major challenge. This is the reason why American and European entrepreneurs are reluctant to come to Coimbatore. The first step to solve this problem is to allow the ‘code share’ system. Airport expansion should be expedited and international flight services should be increased.
High growth education
Coimbatore, known for both technological know-how and entrepreneurship, will witness tremendous growth in the IT sector. Very soon, IT will grow to the size of cities like Bangalore. The growth of the IT sector in Coimbatore will be around 15 to 20 percent while it has already grown to some extent.
Coimbatore is at the top in Tamil Nadu among secondary cities in terms of IT sector development. Cities including Visakhapatnam are also growing in South India. Nationally, Coimbatore will definitely be one of the cities to watch in the IT sector.
Let’s follow China!
China invites its own researchers working in foreign laboratories to return to their country and do what they need. Therefore, China is ahead of America and Europe in artificial intelligence. This cannot be done by private companies here. We cannot pay their crores of wages. Government can set up such laboratories. Abroad, our people work in the best places in technology. They can be brought here and put in labs. The theses (IP) they give can be turned into products and technologies. None of us are immune to entrepreneurship. Tech-savvy Indians rank high abroad. If we combine these two in India, we can have a great industrial revolution. Government should pay more attention.
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