Kerala to Release GCC Policy this Year: CM

KOCHI:

The Kerala government will release a GCC policy this year to utilize the potential of the state’s global capability centers at the international level, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said today.

The administration intends to give incentives to encourage companies that want to start GCCs in the state amid their aspirations for in-house capabilities across various business functions, he told a roundtable meeting of GCC heads, jointly organized in the city by Kerala IT and ETGCCWorld.in.

The government will provide a single-window system for permits and basic facilities from inauguration to commencement of work. Currently, with 40 GCCs operating, Kerala is working to increase the number to 120. The target is to raise jobs from 40,000 to two lakh by 2030, the Chief Minister said, inviting industry representatives to Kerala to learn first-hand about its infrastructure, world-class IT parks and living conditions.

IT Secretary Seeram Sambasiva Rao described the GCC region as the “driving force” of a vibrant economy. Listing out National Highway development, Vizhinjam port, coastal highway, hill highway and canal transport as examples of Kerala’s infrastructure development, he said. Kerala currently has several world-class companies in the GCC region along West Asia.

Underscoring that Kerala has been following a policy of “completely supporting” private IT parks, Rao pointed out that Lulu Twin Tower that opened at suburban Kakkanad in end-June has brought in sufficient IT space. He highlighted the importance of “controlled urbanization” as the “most important thing” Kerala is putting forward for the IT industry. “GCC companies should account these things while starting new centers,” he added.

The state’s IT high-powered committee Vice-Chairman S.D. Shibulal said the IT sector in the country should focus on harnessing Kerala’s strengths in terms of talent and capability. “Initiatives such as the Research Cluster, GPU Cluster and Kerala AI for government services show the state’s commitment in this area,” he added.

The company heads at the discussion highlighted the need for an understanding on the right areas the state should focus on while hosting the GCCs. They called for bringing women to leadership positions in the GCC-IT sector.

Infopark CEO Susanth Kurunthil presented the details of the draft GCC Policy to the IT industry. A special team for GCC will be set up in Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram and Infopark in Kochi, he added.

Technopark CEO Col (Retd) Sanjeev Nair and KSUM CEO Anoop Ambika spoke.

Rao later inaugurated the website of ‘i by infopark’ (https://ibyinfopark.in/), which is Infopark’s new co-working space set to open near Ernakulam South Metro Station.

He also released a city-profiling report of Thiruvananthapuram prepared for Technopark by Colliers.

The participants at the GCC roundtable included Lubrizol Corporation India GCC Head Abhishek Jain, Global Finance Shared Services India Head and Director Amit Grover, AGCO Corporation Country Director and India Leader Amit Talwar, Maersk (APMM GSC) GSC Europe, IME, Africa Operations & Business Analytics Head Amit Tandon, Amadeus Pune Senior Director of Engineering & Site Head Arun Narayanaswamy, DOMO Country Director & India Leader Ashfaq Sheikh, Checkmarks India Development Center Country Director-Head Ashutosh Sharma, AkzoNobel Head of GBS India Deepak Malkani, Idocs PLC Country Director & India Board Member Kailash Maisekhar, Schlumberger Director and IT Centers at SLB Global Head, Abuzar Arif Hussain, Dassault Systèmes Global Services CEO and Director on the Board, Manish Mohan Tambe, Maximus India Senior Vice President – Country Head, Praveena Bhimavarap, MasterCard Head of Asia Pacific Technology Hubs, Rajesh Mani, Esco Graphics India Pvt. Ltd. Senior Director and Site Leader, Sameer Shashikant Atre, Clean Harbors President & Country Manager, Samrit Avinash Radheshyam, Corteva Agriscience Global Services Center Leader (Site Director), Sandeep Mehta, Clark Global Capability Center Chief Architect, Kimberly Sandeep Poddar, Tom Tom India Director Finance and India Site Leader, Sanjay Omprakash Agarwal, Vanderlande Director, Head of FSSC Global Centre (Pune), Sunil Modi, Anglo-Eastern Head/India Site Leader- Global Shared Services Centre, Tushar Rameshrao Gawande, AXA Insurance GBS CEO, Michel Rochefort, EY Wavespace Leader Koshy Mathews, Lulu IT.