Karnataka logs 37% growth in software exports at Rs 38K cr

Karnataka logs 37% growth in software exports at Rs 38K cr
The Financial Express.com

Posted online: Thursday, May 04, 2006 at 0117 hours IST

BANGALORE, MAY 3: Karnataka’s software exports have surged 36% during the past year, touching Rs 37,600 crore, compared to exports worth Rs 27,600 crore recorded for fiscal year 2005.
Hardware exports from the state for the period were estimated to be worth Rs 2,481 crore, growing at 40% compared to Rs 1,768 crore during the previous fiscal. The state’s share in the overall country’s exports grew marginally to 37.6%, from 36% last year.

Karnataka secretary for IT and BT Shankarlinga Gowda said that given the current rate of growth, software exports from Karnataka could be expected to touch Rs 49,000 crore by end of the current year. The sector would create employement for 70,000 professionals in Karnataka during the year, he said.

Software exports during 2006 were primarily in the enterprise application space, that accounted for 57% of the exports, while technology and software constituted 24% and ITES/BPO contributed 16% to the pie.

According to the estimates of the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), Karnataka attracted fresh investments from 124 foreign equity companies and 77 Indian companies during the period. Proposed IT investments in the state during the period was Rs 2,761 crore, including Rs 1,882 crore from foreign equity players and Rs 879 crore from Indian companies.

The pie of fresh investments in the ITeS/BPO space expanded by 10% compared to its share in the previous year, at 32% during the past year. 43% of newly approved companies were in the enterprise application space. Technology and sofwtare sector contibuted 25% of the new investments, Mr Naidu said.

IT exports from tier-II centres in Karnataka, including Mysore, Mangalore, Hubli and Dharwad were promising. According to officials, IT exports from Mysore would touch Rs 600 crore in the current fiscal, while Mangalore’s IT exports would cross Rs 1000 crore by 2007.

Exports from Mysore, which houses 40 IT companies, were recorded to be Rs 392 crore in 2006, while Mangalore and Manipal based 21 IT players clocked exports worth Rs 570 crore during the year. Hubli houses nine IT companies and exports worth Rs 4.92 crore were recorded during the year.