Over the past five years, Kerala has maintained a GDP which is higher than the national average of 7.4% and has a strong potential to set an example for other Indian states to achieve its current economic status. With a new Government focussed on development and investment, KPMG envisions Kerala as the next corporate hub. This was the outcome of a panel discussion under the broad theme of ‘Kerala - The Way Forward’, facilitated by KPMG to explore opportunities for sustainable economic growth in Kerala.
Setting the tone for the discussion, Russell Parera, CEO, KPMG in India said, “Kerala has the potential to become a favourable investment destination provided it’s more investor friendly. With increased focus on knowledge based industries like IT / ITeS & BT, there exists immense growth opportunities in Kerala. Kerala should identify segments that it would like to focus on and then have a road map on how to attract investment within India and globally in these sectors”. He also added that the SME sector will be a key contributor to Kerala's growth in the coming years.
Presenting his views, T Balakrishnan IAS, Addl. Chief Secretary, Industries Department, Govt. of Kerala said, “The future of Kerala is in retail and let the money flow where the returns are better. There has to be a shift from manufacturing and agriculture to retail. We can be the richest State in India if we focus on retail, commerce and services”.
V K Mathews, Executive Chairman, IBS Group observed that Kerala went backwards in the last ten years compared to other states with little focus on investment, meaningful job creation and infrastructure. He said the IT industry offered enormous growth options with little impact on the environment. He added that the State needs to address the perception issue to attract investment”.
C Balagopal, MD, Terumo Penpol while sharing his experiences of being a manufacturing entrepreneur in Kerala said, the future on Kerala was in decentralised manufacturing with a focus on value added products. There was a need to pursue a development agenda focusing on basic infrastructure.
According to KPMG, the large pool of SMEs in Kerala, which includes companies in sectors such as IT / ITeS / BPO, commodities and spices, financial services, tourism, and real estate, have the potential for immense growth.
Mervin Alexander, CEO, Technopark; Binu Sankar, CEO, GTech; Alexander Varghese, Country Head, UST Global; Rakesh Gupta, COO, ACIS and E M Najeeb, MD, ATE were among the host of senior management executives from various sectors like IT, Hospitality, Real Estate who were present for the interactive session.
Anil Philip
Kerala IT News
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