Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said that the IT sector in the state has lost revenues to the tune of Rs 4,500 crore in the first quarter of the present fiscal, on account of the Covid pandemic.
He also pointed out studies conducted by the State Planning Board have now estimated a loss of jobs, to the extent of 26,000 direct jobs and 80,000 indirect jobs.
“To provide an impetus to the IT sector, what we have decided is to give a relaxation of rent for three months to companies operating from state-run IT parks and the companies can decide on which three months they would like in the present fiscal. Moreover, we expect to provide that in the next fiscal, there will be no normal annual escalation in rent,” Vijayan said.
As on date, the total IT software exports from Kerala is pegged at around Rs 20,000 crore from the three parks here, and at Kochi, and Kozhikode besides small other IT firms and start-ups across the state.
The total direct employment is around 1.10 lakh.
Vijayan also pointed out that he has assured the IT industry that if there are any outstanding payments from the state government to companies, they will be cleared at the earliest and the government will take up with banks on how best they can come to the help of such companies which require any working capital needs.
“Today the situation is that it is work from home for most IT companies. We have also suggested that there should be a new model ‘work near home’ units that has to be started. A ‘work-sharing bench’ also should begin and any IT company or even the government, if they need extra hands, should take from this work sharing bench. IT companies, when they get new projects, should first fill up vacancies from this bench and then only look for fresh appointments,” added Vijayan.
