News From Competitor States

 Study points to Coimbatore IT potential

 Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu can rake in as much as $113 million in IT and ITES revenues by 2008 according to a recent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

 The study conducted by CII and PwC, estimates the cost of manpower lowest among the major IT and ITES centres in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

 Assuming a billing rate of $10 an hour, the manpower cost in Coimbatore is estimated at 20 per cent of the total billing value, while the manpower costs in leading IT/ITES centres like Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad is estimated at around 26 per cent of the total billing value.

 The study by PwC, covering a sample base of 200 organisations also revealed that a third of these organisations are interested in setting up shop in Coimbatore.

 The employment opportunities, classified under three possible scenarios, ranging between 'conservative' and 'optimistic' reveals the likely potential for employment between 8100 to 18,340.

 The estimate has been substantiated by the captive talent pool of approximately 20,000 engineering graduates and 28,000 non-engineering graduates in Coimbatore.

 There are additional qualified personnel from neighbouring cities of Madurai and Trichy contributing to another 39,000 graduating candidates with close to 50 per cent holding science and engineering qualifications.

 The demand for quality IT park space is also set to go up from an immediate requirement of 0.6 million sq ft to 1.4 million sq ft for 14,000 professionals by 2008.

 The capital value of real estate in Coimbatore is among the lowest in the cities in the south. According to PwC study, capital value in Coimbatore