Bangalore: Software exports from the State soared to greater heights during the fiscal year 2005-06, further establishing Karnataka's leadership position as a preferred destination for IT (information technology) firms keen to cash in on India's strengths on the outsourcing stage.

In a year when Karnataka's, or more specifically Bangalore's, image took a battering over poor infrastructure, particularly roads, software exports from the State grew by 36 per cent to Rs. 37,600 crore from Rs. 27,600 crore a year ago as more and more customers from western countries outsourced work to IT firms in India to cut costs and remain competitive.

Karnataka's annual software export growth of 36 per cent was well above the national average growth rate of 30 per cent. The State's share in the national software exports of Rs. 1,00,809 crore was 37.6 per cent.

Bangalore accounted for a bulk of the software exports from the State, accounting for Rs. 36,633 crore or above 97 per cent of the software exports from Karnataka. Mangalore and Manipal exported software worth Rs. 570 crore during the year while the share of Mysore was Rs. 392 crore.

Hubli contributed Rs. 4.92 crore to the software export kitty.

Another significant feature of 2005-06 was that hardware exports from the State jumped 40 per cent to Rs. 2,481 crore from Rs. 1,768 crore a year earlier. Further, an estimated 70,000 people were hired in the IT, ITeS (IT-enabled services) and BPO (business process outsourcing) sectors during the year.

New software units

During the year, 201 new software units (as against 198 in 2004-05) were registered in the State with a total projected investment of Rs. 2,761 crore.

"With the current pace of growth, Karnataka should be able to reach software exports of Rs. 49,000 [crore] or even Rs. 50,000 crore this fiscal," Shankaralinge Gowda, Secretary, IT and Biotechnology, told presspersons here on Wednesday.

B.V. Naidu, Director, Software Technology Parks of India, Bangalore and Hyderabad, sought to dispel the notion that IT companies were quitting Bangalore for other destinations.

"There is a need to remove the notion that companies have left Karnataka and Bangalore. None of the companies operating in the State have left.Many of them have expanded operations to other locations in the State," he said, adding the Government was "positioning" secondary cities such as Mysore, Mangalore, Manipal and Hubli where the growth rates have surpassed those in some of the other State capitals, he added.

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