Govt plans to set up IT academy

Coimbatore, Feb 27 (UNI) State IT Department Secretary C Chandramouli today said the government is planning to set up an IT academy soon, to provide training at college-level to fill the 'skill gap' in the IT sector.

Addressing the conference 'Connect Coimbatore 2007', organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Dr Chandramouli said the IT task force led by the state Chief Minister had recommended to set up the IT Academy. This academy would prepare the curriculum which would be on par with international standards, and impart skills which would be required to the industry, he added.

Besides preparing content, the academy would also provide training to the faculty members and students.

He said Tamil Nadu was not only attracting various software companies but hardware automobile industries and electronics industries as well.

He said the software exports last year were Rs 13,000 crore and this year the export would be 30 per cent more.

ELCOT MD C Umashankar in his address said the state government was promoting tier-II cities, which included Coimbatore, Trichy, Madurai, Hosur, Tirunelveli, Salem and acquired lands to provide infrastructural facilities.

He said a number of software and hardware companies had shown interest to invest in these cities.

The Disrict Collector Neeraj Mittal in his address said the city had advantages for entrepreneurs to grow because of the large number of industries which needed to become IT enabled to improve their efficiency to compete in the global market.

UNI