Thiruvananthapuram - Economy

Economy

The economy of Thiruvananthapuram city was earlier based on the tertiary sector with about 60% of the workforce being employed as government servants. Large-scale industrial establishments are low compared to other south Indian state capitals like Bangalore and Chennai. Currently the economy is growing with the contributions from more professionals in the fields of IT, and Medical/Bio-Technology.

Thiruvananthapuram was listed as one of the top 10 cites in India on Vibrancy Index and Consumption Index by a study conducted by global financial services firm Morgan Stanley. The opening of many private television channels in the state made Thiruvananthapuram the home of several studios and related industries. India's first animation park Kinfra Film and Video Park is situated here.

The city contributes 80% of software exports from the state, and was selected as the fourth hottest IT destination in India. Since the establishment of Technopark in 1995, Thiruvananthapuram has steadily grown into a competitive IT centre. The city was rated as the best 2nd tier metro with IT/ITES infrastructure, and second in terms of availability of human talent. Technopark houses global majors like Oracle Corporation, Accenture, Infosys, ITC Infotech, TCS, HCL, Visual Graphics Computing Services, Ernst & Young Global Shared Services Center, Allianz Cornhill, RR Donnelley, UST Global, Tata Elxsi, IBS Software Services, NeST Software, SunTec Business Solutions etc. The park has around 250 companies employing over 35,000 professionals. This is the first CMMI Level 4 assessed Technology Park which spreads over 330 acres, and about 4,000,000 sq ft (370,000 m2). of built-up space As Phase IV expansion, Technopark is developing 450 acres of land in Pallippuram, 5 km north from the main campus as Technocity.

Tourism has also contributed heavily to the economy of Thiruvananthapuram. Foreign tourists generally use Thiruvananthapuram as a hub to explore the highly promoted tourism industry of the state of Kerala. Thiruvananthapuram is ranked first in the number of foreign tourists visiting Kerala. It is also a major destination for chartered flights to India for medical tourism, as there are more than fifty recognised Ayurveda centres in and around the city. This is primarily due to Ayurveda's popularity in the West. Medical tourism is further promoted by the recuperation facilities available at the beach resorts and hill stations nearby. The city is also important for people around the world seeking help through Ayurveda medicine and therapy. Ayurveda resorts are coming up at a rapid pace along the International Beach of Kovalam and Varkala coast. There are around 20 government owned and 60 privately owned medium and large-scale industrial units in Thiruvanathapuram. The major employers are the KSIDC, Milma, Keltron, Travancore Titanium and Hindustan Latex, all government owned. There are also about 30,000 small scale industrial units employing around 115,000 people. Traditional industries include handloom and coir.

Commercial activity is low mainly due to the underdevelopment of ports. However, this is expected to change with the construction of the Deep Water Container Transshipment Port at Vizhinjam. Situated close to the city, Vizhinjam is very close to international shipping routes and the east-west shipping axis and hardly require maintenance dredging. Other major organizations of economic interest are the BrahMos Aerospace, Chithranjali Film Complex, Kinfra Apparel Park, Kinfra Film and Video Park, Kerala Hitech Industries (KELTECH), Kerala Automobiles Limited and the English Indian Clays Ltd.