The Hindu : Karnataka News : State's software exports touch Rs. 27,600 crores

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 29, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

State's software exports touch Rs. 27,600 crores

Special Correspondent

50,000 additional jobs created in IT sector

BANGALORE: Software exports from Karnataka jumped 52 per cent during 2004-05 touching 27,600 crores, belying the State's expectations and reaffirming Bangalore's pre-eminence as a preferred destination for IT firms.

"We were expecting software exports to grow by a maximum of 35 per cent during the year similar to the previous year. Nobody expected this phenomenal growth and we are rather surprised to have achieved a figure of 52 per cent," B.V. Naidu, Director, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), told presspersons here. During 2003-04, Karnataka exported software worth Rs. 18,100 crores.

The U.S. accounted for about 63 per cent of the software exported, despite political pressures against outsourcing jobs to India during the U.S. presidential elections last year. Europe accounted for 23 per cent, Asia (five), Japan (four) per cent and rest of the world (five).

Enterprise application represented 52 per cent of the total IT exports while technology software was 33 per cent, ITES/BPO 13 per cent and others two per cent. Significantly, ITES/BPO companies registered an export growth of 56 per cent at Rs. 3,500 crores as against Rs. 2,237 crores in the previous year, adding 25,000 to 30,000 jobs in the process.

The State has set a software export target of Rs. 35,000 crores ($8 billion) for the current fiscal, a growth of 26 per cent over 2004-05, and expects to create an additional 50,000 jobs, the Secretary for IT, Shankarlinge Gowda, said. During 2004-05, the State created an additional 50,000 jobs in the IT sector, he said.

"The 52 per cent growth in IT exports despite all that was said about Bangalore shows that Karnataka in general and Bangalore in particular continues to be the preferred IT destination. The talent pool available in Bangalore is a key driver to this growth," Mr. Gowda said.

During the year, 129 foreign equity companies were approved, one in every two working days, with a total projected IT investment of Rs. 2,783 crores, he said. Hardware exports grew by four per cent to Rs. 1,768 crores in 2004-05.

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