Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu, presenting his maiden Budget on Monday, highlighted that new TIDEL Parks would come up in Madurai and Tiruchi, besides “Neo TIDEL Parks” in smaller towns.
As Mr. Thennarasu noted, the first TIDEL Park was established in Chennai in 2000 under the leadership of former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi. This laid the foundation for the information technology boom in the State.
Link to digital highway
“To ensure that all regions of Tamil Nadu are linked to the digital highway initiated by Muthamizh Arignar Kalaignar [Karunanidhi], new TIDEL Parks are being set up in Madurai at a cost of ₹350 crore, spread over 6.4 lakh square feet, and in Tiruchi at a cost of ₹345 crore, covering 6.3 lakh square feet. Additionally, Neo TIDEL Parks are being established in Thanjavur, Salem, Vellore, Tiruppur, and Thoothukudi. These initiatives are expected to generate employment opportunities for 13,000 people,” the Minister said.
According to details provided by Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation Limited (TIDCO), the idea of setting up the TIDEL Park had come from the late Murasoli Maran, former Union Minister for Commerce and Industries. He had then been approached by A. Ramakrishna, director and head of L&T-ECC, the joint venture partner in Hitech City, with the idea of establishing a world-class IT Park in Chennai. Maran had immediately taken this idea to Karunanidhi. This was when information technology was booming in India in the latter half of the 1990s.
A team went to work
The then Chief Minister delegated the task to M.S. Srinivasan, who headed TIDCO and later served as Secretary to the Government, Industries Department. A team of seasoned IAS officers, including Mr. Srinivasan; R. Gopalan, former Chairman and Managing Director of TIDCO; D. Prakash, former Secretary of the Information Technology Department; and K. Gnanadesikan, former Chairman and Managing Director, ELCOT, collaborated to conceptualise an ambitious project.
In 1996, the government started scouting for land. It zeroed in on approximately eight acres of government-owned land near IIT Madras at Taramani. The announcement of TIDEL Park was made in 1996 and the foundation was laid on August 21, 1998. The cost was ₹292 crore.
The TIDEL Park was inaugurated on July 4, 2000, by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the presence of Karunanidhi. B.V.M Sharma, former JGM, TIDCO, was the first Managing Director of this park. Object Frontier was the inaugural tenant, followed by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HCL Technologies, Indus Software Pvt. Ltd., Brigade Solutions, Inautix Technologies, Financial Software Pvt. Ltd., Cognizant Technology, Miramed Ajuba, and Satyam Computers.
Those days, it was hailed as the millennium gift of the government to the information technology industry, which was entering Tamil Nadu in a big way owing to the immense engineering talent available in the State, a retired bureaucrat recalls. All this was possible because Tamil Nadu was one of the first States to notify a separate information technology policy as early as November 1997, he added.
“Cognizant moved most of its executive leadership team to this building. We took a lot of pride in showcasing the building to the external world so much so all global client visits would happen only in that building,” Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, former chairman and MD, Cognizant India, recalled. “Cognizant occupied the fourth and twelfth floors of TIDEL Park. From the twelfth floor, we got a breath-taking view of the lush-green MGR Film City. Our favourite past time during lunch breaks was to identify the film sequences and songs shot at various places in that film city,” he mused.
Later, the government opted to develop the second and third IT parks in collaboration with TIDCO. Consequently, TRIL Info Park, spanning 4.60 million square feet, was established, while DLF Info Park, covering 7.2 million square feet, is under construction in the vicinity of TIDEL Park.
The TIDEL subsequently collaborated with TIDCO to establish the TIDEL Park Coimbatore Ltd. (TPCL), encompassing 9.14 lakh square feet. TPCL was built at an investment of ₹407 crore and inaugurated by Karunanidhi, in his last tenure as the Chief Minister, on August 2, 2010. During its initial year, in 2011-12, TPCL housed only two occupants: Payoda Technologies and Merrill Technologies. Currently, this property accommodates around 80 clients, with approximately 19,300 individuals employed.
21-storey building at Pattabiram
This year, TIDEL is set to open another building at Pattabiram in suburban Chennai. This is a 21-storey, 60-metre-high, Grade A and Indian Green Building Council platinum-rated building, spanning 5.57 lakh square feet. Its estimated cost is ₹285 crore. Once operational, this property is expected to create employment opportunities for 5,000 to 6,000 information technology professionals.
Now the government wants to promote the information technology sector in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. It has come out with the concept of Mini IT Parks, known as TIDEL Neo. These parks will have a capacity ranging from 50,000 to 1 lakh square feet of built-up space. They are coming up in seven districts. The first park was inaugurated recently in Villupuram by Chief Minister M.K.Stalin. This project is aimed at leveraging the talent pool available in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, even while enabling employees to work closer to their homes, thereby reducing the cost and enhancing engagement. It is anticipated that TIDEL Neo Parks, planned in Tiruppur, Vellore, Salem, Thanjavur, Thoothukudi, and Sivaganga, would be completed soon.
‘Nurturing dreams’
Sandeep Nanduri, Managing Director, TIDCO, said, “By tapping into local talent and offering proximity to home, we’re not just building infrastructure, we’re nurturing dreams. With each TIDEL Neo expected to create opportunities for 450 to 500 IT professionals, this initiative is a beacon of hope poised to ignite socio-economic progress in communities in smaller cities and towns.” Additionally, the government is exploring the establishment of more mini-IT parks in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns.
