I grew up in the Tirunelveli region and built my companies in the United States. Through all those years, one question kept pulling me back home. Why should a talented young person have to leave their hometown, their family and their community just to find a good technology job? TiliconVeli Tech Park is my answer. We founded it in 2016, and today it is home to 12 companies and about 800 jobs. This is why we built it, and why I believe the idea matters far beyond one building in Nellai.
The choice every graduate here used to face
For decades, India’s technology growth was concentrated in a few big cities. Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad got the offices. Smaller towns sent them their graduates. If you studied engineering in Tirunelveli and wanted a serious tech career, the practical advice was simple: pack a bag and go.
Talent was never the problem. Palayamkottai, Tirunelveli’s twin city, has long been called the “Oxford of South India”. Manonmaniam Sundaranar University alone has 104 affiliated colleges and about 1.3 lakh students. Across Tirunelveli and five nearby districts there are about 76 affiliated engineering colleges. Families here value education deeply.
What the region lacked was enough high-quality technology employment for the people it was educating. So I asked a different question. Instead of moving people to where the jobs are, why not bring the jobs to where the people are?
Talent should not have to migrate in search of opportunity. Technology can bring opportunity to where talent already lives.
We had already tested the idea
The park did not begin as a theory. TechFetch, the technology talent marketplace I founded, has connected more than 2 million technology professionals with employers and recruiters. Its back office has run from Tirunelveli for 20 years.
That experience taught me two things. First, globally relevant technology work can be done well from Tirunelveli, year after year. Second, the missing piece was never ability. It was an ecosystem: more companies, more roles and more ladders for people to climb without leaving.
In 2016 we founded TiliconVeli Tech Park to build that ecosystem.
One job changes more than one life
When a young professional finds a good job close to home, the effect spreads well beyond one person. A son or daughter can stay near ageing parents. A young mother can grow her career without giving up the family support that makes it possible. A graduate can earn a strong salary without losing much of it to metro rents and long commutes.
The money stays local too. Canteens, auto drivers, landlords, tailors and shops all gain customers. Families have more to spend and more to save. Most importantly, the town keeps the very people who will build its next stage of growth.
This is the multiplier effect of rural job creation. We are not only creating technology jobs. We are keeping talent, income, knowledge and ambition inside the community.
It is also why inclusion sits inside our mission rather than beside it. A job close to home matters most to the people for whom moving away is hardest. That includes many rural women and many persons with disabilities. Creating jobs for both is part of what TiliconVeli is for. Our building is 100% wheelchair accessible, because an inclusive mission needs an accessible front door.
From brain drain to brain gain
For a city like ours, economic development starts with one shift. Tirunelveli has to move from being a place companies recruit talent from to a place companies come to find talent.
An engineer in Tirunelveli should be able to build sophisticated products for customers anywhere in the world without leaving Tirunelveli. Technology has made geography far less important. Talent is spread everywhere. Opportunity should be too.
That shift is under way. In 2022, 3i Infotech opened its global Oracle Centre of Excellence, NuRe Park Tirunelveli, at TiliconVeli Tech Park. In neighbouring Tenkasi district, Zoho grew its office from 6 people in 2011 to about 1,200. Each decision like this makes the next one easier for the company that follows.
800 jobs, 800 stories
I am proud of the numbers: 12 companies and about 800 jobs. But when I think about those jobs, I do not see a statistic. I see hundreds of individual stories.
- A first job after college.
- A professional who came home from Chennai or Bengaluru.
- A family that was able to stay together.
- A young engineer who realised a global career did not require a one-way ticket out of Tirunelveli.
- An entrepreneur who discovered that a serious technology company can be built outside India’s largest cities.
Every job is an opportunity. Every opportunity strengthens a family. Together, those families strengthen a whole region.
An ecosystem, not just a building
Office space alone does not create lasting employment. Companies need access to talent. Young professionals need mentors and career paths. Entrepreneurs need people around them who have done it before. Colleges need closer links with industry.
TiliconVeli was designed for all four. We sit near Government College of Engineering, Tirunelveli. Our incubator supports founders taking their first steps. And we made it simple for companies to begin. The campus is ready to move in, so a team can start its office today, from a single desk. Companies can choose a plug-and-play office, a managed team that we hire and support, a build-operate-transfer centre, or project delivery from teams at the park.
As more companies settle here, experienced professionals grow with them. Some become leaders. Some start businesses of their own. That is when job creation becomes self-sustaining. The goal was never to bring one company to Tirunelveli. It is to build an environment that can produce the next 10 companies, the next 100 entrepreneurs and the next generation of local employers.
None of this is charity. Companies gain committed talent and a different cost structure. Employees gain good careers near their families. The community gains economic activity. If technology lets someone serve a customer thousands of miles away, there is no reason that person must live in a Tier-1 city to create Tier-1 value.
The boomerang
Look at the TiliconVeli logo and you will find a boomerang. It stands for coming back to your roots.
Many of us left to grow. I did. We learned, built and earned in India’s big cities and abroad. The boomerang says the story does not have to end there.
You left to grow. Come back to build.
To engineers from Nellai working in big cities today: the career you want may now be possible at home. Take a look at careers at the park. To diaspora founders and executives: you know what your companies need, and you know what this region can deliver. Your next team could sit a short drive from where you grew up.
An invitation
This ambition was never measured only in buildings or headcount. It is measured by how many people can say, “I found a great career, built a better life, and I didn’t have to leave my community to do it.”
If you run a technology company, a growing startup or a US business planning its India team, come and see what Tirunelveli can do. Tell us how you want to work and we will prepare a tailored proposal.
- See the ways to set up your team in Tirunelveli.
- Talk to us about a visit or a proposal.
Global careers. Local roots.
Prabakaran “Praba” Murugaiah is Co-Founder & Chairman, TiliconVeli Tech Park; Co-Founder, Maayu AI and Maayu Government Solutions; and founder of TechFetch. Read more about Praba.
