Karnataka   

IT, ITES sector earned $50 billion last year

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

INTERACTION: Minister for Sports and Youth Services Alkod Hanumanthappa and Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa with the participants of INSIGHT, a technology forum, in Bangalore on Wednesday.

BANGALORE: The country’s Information Technology (IT) and Information Technology-enabled services industry earned $50 billion last year, accounting for about five per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). For an industry that earned export revenues of only about $4.5 billion 10 years ago, the tenfold growth was stupendous.

Speakers at a seminar on IT education here on Wednesday cited these figures to convince students about the huge potential of the booming industry.

Rajesh Panchanathan, Recruitment Lead, Accenture India, said that the growth of the IT and ITES industry had kept pace with the economy. India’s GDP had grown to Rs. 400,000 crore last year, doubling from Rs. 200,000 crore five years ago. In terms of GDP from the perspective of purchasing power parity, the country was fourth in the world, he said.

Despite the rising rupee, the IT industry in the country was definitely buoyant. According to Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, by 2010, the industry’s manpower is expected to cross 10 lakh, up from the current strength of 4.5 lakh, Mr. Panchanathan said.

“Bangalore alone contributed to about 50 per cent of the country’s IT revenue,” he said while reiterating the State Government’s commitment to help Bangalore retain its global IT brand name.

According to Youth Services and Sports Minister Hanumanthappa Alkod, the industry has had a pioneering role in empowering women. “A lot of women have found jobs in the IT sector,” he said. The potential for employment was huge, he said. “But don’t neglect your health in the pursuit of a job. Involve in co-curricular activities including sports,” he told the students.

For the students, the seminar was also an opportunity to get exposed to the huge strides in the filed of multi-media technology through a presentation by Anand Parthasarathy of The Hindu. He dwelt deep into the technologies of Infor mation, Communication and Entertainment (ICE).

From the convergence of the computer and television to the explosion of mobile phones in the country; from ATMs for the handicapped to affordable digital lifestyles; from desktop movie-making to “desi” web crawler, he took the students on a tech tour. He also touched upon the transition of the walkman of the 1980s to the MP3 player and iPods of the 21st century.

Organised by Aptech Computer Education, in association with The Hindu and SSI Job Quotient, the event “Insight Tech Forum” also featured a panel discussion and a question and answer session.

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