Gujarat has always been considered as the land of investors and despite the fact that the state has been facing natural disasters and communal riots over the last few years, investment has not taken the back seat. The state still continues to attract investment from all major industries.

The only industry that was lagging behind was IT but after the government's consistent push to provide better infrastructure and sops to the industry, all major biggies are eyeing to invest in Gujarat. 

Innovation is the key for IT in Gujarat. The state has been trying to do things differently to lure investors. The state's first IT park 'The Infocity', a joint venture between Gujarat government and a US based Creative IT, not only has adequate infrastructure requirements for IT and ITeS companies but also boasts all lifestyle pre-requisites.

Infocity boasts of all basic amenities that include multi-cuisine food courts, banks and ATMs, retail outlets and business centers. The area comprises manicured lawns, water bodies and gardens. Around 70% of the project area is landscaped.

Anupam Saxena, director, Infocity said, “We want to differentiate ourselves with other IT parks in India. And the main differentiator is the lifestyle that we offer to people working here.”

IT majors like TCS and Microsoft have already set up their development centers here and around 40 IT and ITeS companies are currently operating out of Infocity right now. Around 6,000 professionals are already working here, and the number is likely to go up to 15,000 by the end of this fiscal. The total number of professionals working in this park would be around 30,000 by March next year.

The developers have already invested around Rs 100 crore in this project and it is estimated that the entire project would call for around Rs 500 crore investment.

INVESTMENT PROPOSALS: IEMS (1991-2005)

The Infocity is spread across 150 acres and currently has four towers with office space of about a million square feet. The IT park will eventually have 12 towers with office space of about four million square feet.

Apart from the IT space that this park offers, it also has a residential township that comprises bungalows and low-cost apartments. Infocity provides these housing facilities to IT professionals working in the IT park.

The IT park will soon have all the major lifestyle brands available. Apollo has already set up its wellness center and it will soon be followed by a five star hotel and a shopping mall, the talks for which are currently on with major players in their respective fields.

The focus is also on facilitating education. Already ICFAI and NID have set up their centers and the park will soon boast of an international school.

“Our IT park is one of the best connected IT parks in India. We have almost all the major ISPs present here and there is no downtime and dearth of bandwidth out here,” added Saxena.

Infocity suffered major loss due to earthquake and communal riots. The park was ready for possession five years back but companies were reluctant to invest in the park. As a result, there were hardly any companies present a couple of years back. But now that the situation has improved, companies are back with a bang. “We would have got a number of companies present in our park four years back, if the disaster had not happened here,” added Saxena. 

Even during disasters, the Infocity was up and running 24x7. The transport was made available to all professionals working in Infocity and the management ensured that they reach on time.

Since Infocity is conveniently located on the National Highway 8C connecting New Delhi and Mumbai, it's easier for companies to carry out their operations as most of the companies' set-up is scattered across the country.

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