A consortium comprising Cisco, Tata Communications, Korea Telecom and Newgen will provide a broad range of information technology and communication services for a Rs 78,000-crore project aimed at creating a greenfield financial metropolis in Gujarat.
This consortium would invest up to Rs 300 crore at the Gujarat International Financial Tec-City (GIFT) over the next 3-4 years to establish, among other things, a data centre, optical fibre infrastructure, security and surveillance systems.
Systems integrator
The consortium, which has formed a unit named Smart iCity Services, will act as a master systems integrator for all technology services for 15 years, R.K. Jha, Director of GIFT, told
“The mandate of the consortium is to provide an entire spectrum of services built around technology. As and when newer technologies are introduced anywhere in the world, they would be expected to replicate it in GIFT,” said Jha, adding that GIFT is being modelled on international financial hubs such as Singapore and Hong Kong.
The consortium will make the upfront investments and charge the end users — banks, financial institutions and financial back office companies — for services rendered, added Jha.
GIFT Co. was formed in 2007 as an equal joint venture between Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) and state-owned Gujarat Urban Development Co.
The project envisages, at least in presentations, a township spread over 25,000 acres; office buildings in 880 acres and creation of five lakh jobs. Two out of the proposed 100 plus towers have been completed. Work on a third residential tower of 33 floors will start after the monsoons.
In the first leg of the project, Smart iCity Services would be given land to erect a data centre within GIFT. “The entire endeavour is to ensure that the cost of operation for any company that moves into GIFT is much lesser than anywhere else in the country,” said Jha.
The first tenant, Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission has moved into one of the towers on June 1, said Jha. About 10 public sector banks have also committed to take up space at GIFT, he added, without divulging further details.