Kochi: A two-day holiday-cum-business session of CEOs started yesterday. Arriving at the picturesque Kumarakom tourist resort are all the executive council members of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) for an annual meeting.

The high-profile IT top brass includes Nasscom president Kiran Karnik; Ajit Balakrishnan, CEO, rediff.com; Deepak Ghaisas of iFlex; Lalit Kanodia of Datamatics; Arun Kumar of Hughes Software; Rajiv Mody, Som Mittal, Atul Nishar and Ramalinga Raju of Satyam; K V Ramani of Future Software; Avtar Saini of Intel Asia; Bhaskar Pramanik of Sun Microsystems; and Ropen Roy of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Despite the state's IT-friendly policies, not many big IT names have set up shop in Kerala, with the exception of Infosys. Reports say the state's total IT turnover this year is expected to hover around last year's figure of Rs 2.6 billion.

But Aruna Sundararajan, the state IT secretary, is hopeful that the two-day meeting of Nasscom will help the sector in Kerala. "The very fact that they decided to have their annual meeting here is a recognition of the work we have done. The meeting is expected to focus on the training initiatives we have begun."

Another important point of discussion is an analysis of the novel Akshaya Project that has entered its last phase in Malappuram district. By the end of this month, Malappuram will become the world's first 'e-village'.

The state IT Mission is overseeing the project and from next year it is to be replicated in all the other 13 districts. Nasscom is expected to extend support to the novel programme from next year.

The IT Mission is also making a presentation to Nasscom officials on the latest Kochi Infopark that is fast nearing completion and is expected to open next June. A detailed presentation will be made on the IT initiatives and infrastructure in Kerala.