Kerala

Kerala is one of the most sought-after tourist destinations in Asia, with many beaches, wildlife reserves, backwaters and hill stations to offer

With its popular alternative medical therapies such as Ayurveda, Kerala is also popular for medical tourism. Several hospitals across the state maintain international standards in infrastructure, healthcare and state-of-the-art equipment, attracting foreign patients. The state attracted 18 Mn domestic tourists and 345,549 international tourists in 2022, registering an incredible growth of 152% in total tourist visits over previous year.

Kerala is a major exporter of spices, marine products, cashew, coffee and pickles

Food processing industry has been recognised as a priority sector in Kerala due to its potential for future growth and possibility of generating substantial employment. The following projects are being undertaken by the Kerala for this sector:

• KINFRA Food Processing Park, Kakkanchery, Malappuram (Completed)
• Food and Spices Park, Muttam, Idukki
• KINFRA Mega Food Park, Palakkad
• KSIDC Mega Food Park, Alappuzha
• Highest number of EU-approved fishery products processing plants in India
• 5 state-of-the-art Food Processing Parks including 2 Mega Food Parks

Kerala is home to more than 1200 IT companies employing more than 150000 employees

The state offers IT infrastructure in the form of dedicated IT parks such as Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam, notified as special economic zones. Overall, more than 800 ha of land is available for development for IT-related infrastructure.

• IT and Technology Parks: Technopark – at Trivandrum, Infopark at Kochi, Smart City at Kochi and Cyberpark at Calicut
• Technopark: India's first technology park and among the three largest IT parks in India today. This is the first CMMI Level 4 assessed Technology Park.
• Kerala Startup Village – Run on a PPP model is transforming Kochi into one of the most vibrant tech-startup locales in the country
• Maker Village - Largest electronic hardware incubator and Electronics System Design & Manufacturing (ESDM) facility in the country

Kerala is emerging as a hub for petrochemical activities, investing in projects having estimated costs of over INR 1,000 Cr

BPCL Refinery currently operates at 11.5 MMTPA and will undertake capacity expansion upto 15.5 MMTPA. BPCL will produce 500,000 TPA of propylene, which would be the major feed stock for production of petrochemicals.

World-class research, development & testing facilities to support electronic industries

Kerala has many companies engaged in the manufacture of various components, products, and services catering to High end electronics / defense sectors

The first State in the Country to setup a company dedicated to Electronics (KELTRON)

Major players in the State include SFO Technologies, KEL, V-Guard, FCI-OEN etc.

KINFRA is setting up a land bank of 4,896 acres in 11 parcels in Kannur for the development of industrial parks.

The State’s rich biodiversity comprising of abundant flora and fauna has fostered a thriving R&D culture, giving birth to many research institutions in agriculture, Ayurveda, medical sciences, biotechnology, fisheries, marine sciences and more

• Skilled & educated manpower
• Presence of R&D institutes
• KSIDC has set-up a Life Sciences Park at Thiruvananthapuram