By IANS,
Hyderabad : The IT exports from Andhra Pradesh recorded 41 percent growth against the projected national average growth rate of 32 percent in the last fiscal.
The IT exports during 2007-08 were Rs.261.22 billion ($6.2 billion) against Rs.185.82 billion of 2006-07.
Andhra Pradesh, which stands fourth in the country in IT exports, contributed 15 percent to the national exports of Rs.1,777 billion (tentative figures) from software technology park (STP) units.
The city-based Software Technology Parks of India’s director E. Manoj Kumar told a news conference here Thursday that it was another year of steady growth. “The growth rate was better than the expectations and it is impressive, given the decline in dollar’s value,” he said.
In the overall exports, the share of IT services was 50 percent while information technology enabled services (ITES) and BPO sectors contributed 26 percent. Enterprise applications and others contributed 23 percent.
The exports to the US and Canada came down to 61 percent from 68 percent last year. Exports to Europe increased from 18 percent to 20 percent and to Asia Pacific and the Middle East from 11 percent to 15 percent.
Kumar said Andhra Pradesh stood at fourth position in the IT exports after Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
AP Invest CEO C.S. Rao claimed that the state was fast catching up with Tamil Nadu as the gap has come down to Rs.20 billion.
Five companies recorded exports of Rs.10 billion and above while five companies had exports of Rs.5 billion and above. Thirty companies registered exports of Rs.1 billion to Rs.5 billion and 40 companies Rs.10 million to Rs.1 billion.
The number of IT companies in the state has gone up by 176 during last financial year including 40 companies with foreign equity. The state was expecting a fresh investment of Rs.21 billion including Rs.6.54 billion from foreign companies.
Department of information technology and communication secretary Shilendra Kumar Joshi said the growth was robust with three to four new companies setting up operations every week.
Rao said the growth in tier II cities was steadily catching hub. “Visakhapatnam has emerged as the next destination with a growth of 52 percent,” he said.