Infopark clocks Rs 11,417 cr from IT exports at 24.28% growth

Kochi: Infopark, the Kerala government-owned IT park, has clocked Rs 11,417 crore from IT exports during 2023-24. The figure, a 24.28 per cent rise compared to the previous year, has set a new milestone in its profile of two decades.

The latest figure is in continuation of a major rise over the past eight years, as the value of IT exports from Infopark during 2016-17 was just Rs 3,000 crore. That was when the IT complex housed 328 companies and 32,800 employees in a built-up space of 70 lakh square feet. By April 2024, the built-up space at Infopark rose to 92.62 lakh sq ft, with 582 companies and more than 70,000 employees.

CEO Susanth Kurunthil said the clear improvement is a result of Infopark’s success in capitalsing on world-wide digitisation efforts during the times of the COVID-19 pandemic. “This generated employment opportunities in the IT sector. In fact, the number has doubled during the period,” he said in a statement.

IT products were in high demand from early 2020, as companies were prompted to go for innovations in the wake of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus and the resultant new normal. “As IT firms had to train staff in new technologies to rise to the situation, there was a boom in the sector,” Kurunthil said.

Infopark’s IT exports were particularly impressive during the COVID-19 pandemic times: Rs 6,310 crore during 2020-21 (21.35% annual growth), Rs 8,500 crore during 2021-22 (34.7% growth) and Rs 9,186 crore during 2022-23 (8.07%).

Besides its Phase-1 and 2 campuses at suburban Kakkanad, Infopark has a Thrissur campus in Koratty and another at Cherthala in Alappuzha district.

The 2004-founded Infopark Kochi employs more than 67,000 employees on a built-in space of 87.46 lakh sq.ft that houses 503 IT and ITeS companies.

The campus at Koratty houses 58 companies and 2,000-plus employees, while that at Cherthala has 21 firms and more than 300 employees.