'Indian IT co exports to reach $60 bn by 2010'

Nagpur, Nov 24: Exports by the Indian Information Technology (IT) industry will touch US Dollars 60 billion per annum by the year 2010, said National Association of Software Companies (NASSCOM) president Kiran Karnik here today.

Delivering a keynote address at the inaugural session of 'Destination Nagpur', a seminar on IT, this morning, Mr Karnik said the industry would have to grow at 30 per cent every year if it had to achieve the exports target for 2010. The target represented a growth of 2.5 times of the present exports of USD 24 billion by the sector, which was the biggest exporter in India.

He said according to projections, the engineering services segment of the IT sector would account for USD 40 billion worth of exports by 2020, making it the biggest contributor to exports.

The industry would need new ''growth destinations'' as a whopping 2.5 lakh jobs would be created to achieve the export targets, Mr Karnik said. Cities like Nagpur, Bhubaneshwar, Jaipur, Coimbatore and Kochi could serve as the new hubs of growth, since existing centres like Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Mumbai had become saturated, he said.

Companies in the IT industry would, therefore, have to look at new destinations to continue functioning efficiently, he added.

NASSCOM president dispelled the notion that the IT industry represented only ''one part of India'' and there was a ''second India'' that did not benefit from its growth. ''There are great prospects for the industry and it is closely connected to the so-called second India. IT is bringing about a qualitative change in life in rural India also,'' he added.

Mr Karnik said animation was another emerging major segment of the IT sector in the country. India is the second country after the United States where people could efficiently combine entertainment and IT skills, which was critical for the animation segment.

Leading names from the industry are participating in the day-long seminar, being held to highlight Nagpur as the preferred destination for the IT and BPO industries. The seminar is being jointly hosted by Vidarbha Economic Development Council (VED) and Vidarbha Association of Software Exporters (VASE).

UNI