Besides the famous Lord Venkatesh temple, the southern Indian town of Tirupati will soon boast of a world-class information technology centre.

Addressing a media conference in Hyderabad on Monday, B V Naidu, director of Software Technology Park of India (Hyderabad) said though Tirupati was designated as a 'tier II city', the software sector is poised to strike roots in the temple town in the near future.

"We are making efforts to brand and promote Tirupati as an ideal centre, a back-up site, due to its proximity to major IT clusters such as Bangalore and Chennai. In fact, Tirupati is the only town, which is closer to the two major clusters.

"We are setting up an incubation centre in Tirupati within the next two months and are targeting anchor companies to start their operations there. The growth of IT sector in Tirupati will support similar operations in adjoining districts," Naidu explained.

Sharp Corporation will start its operations in Tirupati with a 45-member team in testing and services.

"We are in talks with two more companies to set up their operations in Tirupati. Recently, we invited the top executives of some Bangalore-based companies to Tirupati to explore the possibility of setting up their new units in the temple town," Naidu pointed out.