NeST to set up electronic hardware park in Kochi

Kochi, Apr 7: The NeST Group is to set up Kerala's first world class electronic hardware manufacturing park at Kalamassery in Kochi in association with KINFRA with Special Economic Zone (SEZ) status.

The foundation stone will be laid by state Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem on April nine. State Fisheries Minister S Sarma will preside over the function, a company release said here today.

''It has been NeST's vision that Kochi should have a world class hardware manufacturing park utilizing NeST's global experience in this sector for the past 16 years. I am sure that this initiative will place Kochi among the most sought after locations for electronic hardware manufacturing," said Dr. Javad K Hassan, Chairman, NeST Group.

Mr. N Jahangir, Managing Director of NeST Group, said the park with 10 lakh sq. ft of manufacturing space, will partially support NeST Groups ambitious growth plan as well as attract potential investors from outside, creating a total employment potential for 12,000 people in the next five years.

NeST will develop the park as a co-developer with KINFRA with Special Economic Zone status. The park will be exclusively used for electronic hardware manufacturing, associated design center, tooling centers, with all the support facilities, Mr Jahangir said.

NeST Group, which started in 1991 in Cochin Special Economic Zone, now has over ten manufacturing units, R&D center, embedded and application software development center, VLSI design center, and training and ITES operations. It has an annual turnover of over Rs.600 crore employing 3,500 people worldwide.

Its electronic manufacturing activities include digital, RF, fiber optics, power supplies, wire harness, sheet metal/plastic enclosures, magnetics and software development.

Its global operations are spread over USA, Mexico, UK, Ireland, France, Sweden, Qatar, UAE, India, China, Japan and Australia.

UNI