Hubli's IT dream

Hubli's IT dream
M L Kapur - TIMES NEWS NETWORK

17 Dec, 2006 0008hrs IST

HUBLI: The city's dream to be on the IT map of the country as Tier-II investment destination has turned sour. First, it was Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) that declined the offer of land and now Quest has backed out.

Bangalore-based Quest, an engineering services IT company, has surrendered 25 acres of land recommended to it by the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation at Rayapur between the twin cities.

It waited for nearly five months for the government's approval, but when the delay started proving detrimental to the company's expansion plans, Quest withdrew its request last week.

Industry sources said Quest was planning to set up an IT-related engineering services design centre in Hubli with a potential to employ 800 engineers. HDMC had recommended the allotment of land in July, but the government nod did not materialise.

The HDMC had, in fact, recommended allotment of 25 acres of land each to TCS and Quest, but TCS declined the offer, saying its requirement was for at least 50 acres and that too in an IT-specific Special Economic Zone.

HDMC had subsequently recommended the same land for other small IT/ITeS players. Quest was also annoyed with the government's refusal to back its application for ITspecific SEZ approval for the HDMC land at Rayapur.

HDMC had adopted a resolution to set apart the said land for IT/ITeS companies at its council's meeting soon after the Hubli IT Investors' Meet held in May. Later, the proposed law university also staked claim for the same land.

Meanwhile, sources said Quest has since obtained an IT engineering products SEZ approval for its 300-acre site in Belgaum. The design centre proposed for Hubli is also likely to be shifted to its Belgaum SEZ. Thus, the hype and hoopla generated by the IT investors' meet has come to naught. What really went against Hubli was the government's ambivalence on the HDMC's recommendation for land allotment to IT/ITeS companies.

The government could not take a final decision even in five months as two local ministers were working at cross purposes. While district incharge minister Jagdish Shettar backed the IT/ITeS proposal, primary education minister wanted the land to be allotted to the proposed law university.

So Hubli's loss may actually be Belgaum's gain. But the only silver lining is that the neglected north Karnataka region will finally carve a niche for itself on the IT map of the state with the Quest SEZ expected to become operational in the near future.