K'taka eyeing for Rs 50,000 cr software exports

Bangalore, May 3: Karnataka is targetting to achieve software exports of over Rs 50,000 crore during 2006-07, maintaining more than the national growth, State Principal Secretary for IT and BT M K Shankaralinge Gowda said today.

Addressing newspersons on the performance of the State in the IT arena during 2005-06, which saw Karnataka's IT exports crossing Rs 40,000 crore, including Rs 37,600 crore of software exports, he said the indications provided by IT majors in the State hinted that the State was on course for a little over ten billion dollar worth of exports this fiscal.

He said that as against the national growth of 30 per cent, Karnataka had recorded a 36 per cent growth in software exports last fiscal and moved slightly ahead of the normal contribution of one third of the national software exports. The country's software exports last year amounted to Rs 100,809 crore.

Karnataka's exports rose by Rs 10,000 crore, compared to Rs 27,000 crore recorded the previous year, Software Technology Parks of India-Bangalore Director B V Naidu said.

He said Bangalore continued to be the major destination for IT, with as many as 201 companies starting operations last year, including 124 foreign firms. The new investment added during the year was Rs 2,761 crore, of which Rs 1,882 crore came from foreign companies and Rs 255 crore from Small and Medium Enterprises.

Setting a target of Rs 20,000 crore as fund surplus for the Railways during the current fiscal as against Rs 11,000 crore last year, Mr Prasad is pinning high hopes on the dedicated freight corridor for shoring the revenues. ''Efforts to expedite work on the freight corridor will come up for a discussion. Also, the Railways has become ''a soft target'' for Naxal attacks in recent times,'' the sources said, adding that security measures to strengthen rail security would form part of the agenda.

Taking a cue from a move to modernise airports in India, the Railway Ministry has already directed its Divisional Managers to select at least five stations each for upgradation within the next six months.

Mr Batra gave this direction to all 67 Divisional Managers, who met here recently to prepare an action plan for implementation of the Rail Budget propsals.

With the latest directive, at least 400 railway stations would be modernised and equipped by the end of this year with facilities like ATMs, Cyber Cafes, ticket reservation through SMS, better electronic signages and public address systems.

New Delhi Railway station is one of 60 stations selected for upgradation and is expected to be modernised much ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

''Progress on the works in this area will be taken up in a big way,'' the sources pointed out.

Sale of tickets through ATMs has already on an experimental basis at Bangalore station. ''The GMs will discuss measures to replicate this passenger-friendly measure in their respective zones.''

UNI