Kerala Good Place to Live, Great Place to Work: V.K. Mathews

KOCHI:
Kerala is a great place to live and work and whose inherent strengths like skilled labour force, technology infrastructure, and constructive government policies make it a great place to invest, said V.K. Mathews, Founder & Executive Chairman of IBS Software, at the Invest Kerala Global Summit on Saturday.

Delivering the keynote speech at a session titled “State of the IT Industry,” Mathews, who is also a Member of the Kerala Chief Minister’s High power IT Committee, said that the state has a great chance to capitalize on emerging technologies and offers investors an attractive option.

Backed by a flurry of data, he pointed out that Kerala has grown 13-fold in the last two decades while maintaining its achievements in literacy, healthcare, and education, making it an ideal place for companies looking for a base. “Any place that is good to live in is a great place to work too,” he said.

Mathews said that highly skilled talent is the key factor, which is reflected in the thriving IT sector, where 80 percent of the companies are small firms that have managed to produce very innovative products and services.

He also commented on the government support provided to the business sector, saying that accessibility to officials in Kerala is better than in more than 60 countries where IBS is currently operating.

The winds of change blowing across the world – geopolitical shifts, the impact of technology such as the proliferation of misinformation and the polarization of societies, as well as demographic changes – are disrupting business scenarios across the globe.

But analysts say India has a great opportunity in the coming years.

“When asked if the next decade belongs to India, McKinsey & Co. CEO Bob Sternfels said it is not India’s decade, but India’s century,” he recalled.

Mukesh Mehta, Senior Managing Director of Blackstone Private Equity, echoed similar sentiments about India and Kerala during a panel discussion that followed Mathews’ keynote speech. He said areas like medical tourism present great potential for Kerala. The US-based private equity fund has made some major healthcare investments in the state.

Founder and CEO of SunTec, Nandakumar, said his journey showcased the possibilities for entrepreneurs in Kerala where government support played a big part. In this context, he recalled that it was Keltron’s policy of allowing employees to take leave to chase their dreams that was instrumental in his success.

Rathan U. Kelkar, Secretary of the Department of Electronics and IT, Government of Kerala, said the administration’s focus is on enabling tech companies to flourish in the state by providing the necessary infrastructure. Various tech parks have been established across different parts of the state to support this.

Navod Neroth Mohan of Bosch Global Software Technologies also participated in the panel, which was moderated by Richard Antony of EY Global Delivery Services.

In a discussion that followed on “IT Infrastructure for Industry Growth,” Chief Executive Officer of Infopark, Susanth Kurunthil, explained the facilities being offered to the IT sector through various government-established tech parks.

Sripriya Srinivasan, Vice President of Software Support & DRE, IBM Core Software Products, delivered the keynote speech in that panel, while Joseph Korah of Impaqtiv, Vinay Daware, Head of Infrastructure & Information Security at Allianz Technology, Bhasker Joshi, Head of Partner Success at AWS, and Vijayendra Purohit, Senior Vice President, Head of the Computers and Communications Division at Infosys, also participated.