By IANS
Chennai : Software exports from Tamil Nadu crossed Rs.20 billion, an increase of 46 percent over the previous year, state chief minister M Karunanidhi said here Monday.
He was speaking at the seventh edition of Confederation of Indian Industry’s ICT event, Connect 2007.
Karunanidhi also unveiled version 2.0 of the Bharat Operating System, which is based on the Linux platform. The Tamil Nadu government uses the Linux platform for official use, having chosen not to buy Microsoft Windows.
Dubbed BOSS, the version utilises open office tools in Indian languages, with complete Tamil and Hindi software, Thunderbird email client, on-screen keyboard and genome desktop environment.
Digital storage major Moser Baer announced at the CII event that the company would invest Rs.2 billion in a manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu.
Moser Baer MD Deepak Puri said the facility will have cutting-edge technology and is expected to generate employment for about 4,000 people.
“The rise of electronics hardware manufacturing has added to the phenomenal growth in software in the state,” Karunanidhi pointed out in his address.
“The Indian government is setting up an Indian Institute of Information Technology for Design and Manufacturing near Chennai,” he said.
“I have also requested the Centre to set up an Indian Institute of Technology at Madurai, an Indian Institute of Science Education and Research at Tiruchirappalli and an Indian Institute of Management at Coimbatore,” he added.
Karunanidhi also said his government was committed to providing world-class infrastructure to support the growth of industry in general and the information and communication technology (ICT) industry in particular.
S. Mahalingam, chairman, Connect 2007 and chief financial officer, TCS, said: “Tamil Nadu is expected to achieve a 25 percent production share of Indian ICT industries by 2011.”