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Kerala team to tour Gulf to attract NRI investments

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

A Kerala delegation led by Industry Minister Susheela Gopalan would shortly leave for Gulf countries on November 25 to sell the idea of industrial parks to Non-Resident Indians.

The NRIs have been shying away from making investments in this highly politicised state.

The attempt is to attract a portion of the money the Keralites working in the Gulf countries have parked in the banks. NRI investments are being sought for the industrial development of the state.

The NRIs have about Rs 240 billion in commercial banks as deposits. The delegation has a number of parks in a “walk-in-and-manufacture form” ready to offer to NRIs, who have been looking for avenues for secured investments in the state.

The parks ready for selling include a food processing park in Malappuram, apparel park in Thiruvananthapuram, information technology and electronics parks in Kochi and Kozhikode besides two growth centres.

The four industrial parks developed by the Kerala Infrastructure Industrial Development Corporation and the two growth centres are scheduled for commissioning in December and January.

Apart from this, there are several similar parks and integrated infrastructure development centres getting ready in different parts of the state. They include Rubber Park, Furniture Park and Kinfra Export Promotion Industrial Parks in Kochi, Film and Video Park in Thiruvananthapuram and Kinfra Techno Industrial Parks in Malappuram.

The industrial parks are mostly equipped with infrastructure facilities of international standards, single-window clearances’ provision, manpower training and research centres and several common facilities for investors as well as workers.

The Kinfra International Apparel Park at Menankulam would have a fashion institute and an auxiliary support service park in the campus. The latter would supply accessories and raw material the units would require for production and undertake repairs and services. The Kinfra has already prepared an army of trained women for immediate employment.

The park, which is the first of its kind in the sub-continent, has already attracted international attention. The first among them to move to the comprehensive campus close to the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport is a leading garment giant from Italy -- Carrera. A leading name in fashion and apparel business for nearly three decades at the international level, Carrera would be investing Rs 3 billion in three phases and employ 600 workers. Another major investor is the Bangalore-based City Man.

The Kinfra food park at Malappuram has a tie-up with United Nations Industrial Development Organisation to assist the units in training and research. The entrepreneurs would get UNIDO-approved processing technology and training in coconut products, pickles, jams etc. The park, which has been lauded by UNIDO as the world’s model food processing park, has evoked international attention during two seminars organised by UNIDO in Paris and Italy.

Kinfra managing director G C Gopala Pillai said that they have already received 100 inquiries for investment in the park.

Kinfra’s IT parks in Kochi and Kozhikode would have the support of satellite earth stations being set up by the VSNL in the two cities. The park at Kozhikode would have linkage with the Indian Institute of Management and at Kochi with the Cochin University for Science and Technology.

To make the park more attractive to the investors, Kinfra would be offering land at a cheap rate. Space at Kozhikode would be available at a monthly rent of Rs 2 a square foot and at Kochi at Rs 4.95 a square foot. This is the lowest rate prevailing in IT locations in the world, Gopala Pillai said.

The delegation is going to the Gulf with a special offer of 20 per cent subsidy on land in its apparel and food processing parks. The offer would be valid up to January 31.

The delegation, which includes Pillai, Kerala Industry Secretary K Mohandas and Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation managing director Krishnamoorthy, would be making presentations on the parks and the growth centres in Dubai on November 27, in Abu Dhabi on November 29 and Muscat on December 1.

The delegation would also have one-to-one talks with the potential investors during their stay in the Gulf from November 26 to December 2.

The Kinfra MD told the redifif.com that the Kerala government has been striving to promote industrial parks in a big way to provide investment avenues to the NRIs, who are keen to seize the opportunity as the reverse flow from Gulf has started in an alarming rate.

Park-based industrial development is a strategic shift in policy taken by the government in the light of the failure of conventional strategies. Pillai claimed that the success of Technopark at Thiruvananthapuram has evoked keen interest among investors in industrial parks. Technopark, which completed five-years of trouble-free operation, is looking for expansion in the joint sector.

Sixteen major Indian companies have responded to the invitation to expand the present campus by adding 250,000 square feet built up space in the 180-acre campus at an estimated cost of Rs 1.5 billion. The Technopark, which now houses over 40 companies from all over the world, is targeting a total of 300 software units within the next three years.

Gopala Pillai expressed hope that once all the parks become operational, Kerala would be known as a state of industrial parks.

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