CHENNAI: Exports from units registered under the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) in Tamil Nadu stand at Rs. 36,680.40 crore for 2008-09, a 29.04 per cent increase from the 2007-08 exports total, which was Rs. 28,426.02 crore.
Speaking at a meeting here on Wednesday where the official figures were released, IT Secretary P.W.C. Davidar said that these figures were encouraging. He said the government would soon announce some proactive measures that would benefit the IT sector.
Innovation, new geographies and new verticals have contributed to the growth in Tamil Nadu, said K. Purushothaman, regional director, NASSCOM, the trade body of the IT industry.
Though the figures show that United States continues to dominate, accounting for 58 per cent of the total exports, followed by United Kingdom at 12 per cent, companies in Tamil Nadu are also looking at other markets such as Japan, Brazil, Australia and Germany, he said.
Tamil Nadu has also been a success for captives, he said, referring to organisations fully owned by companies outside India.
As companies have started focusing on e-governance and domestic markets, the growth would increase, he said. “The government should capitalise on this and take it further,” he said, adding that the process of approvals in various departments should be speeded up. With 41 per cent of the total exports in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coming from application software, it continued to be a major chunk of IT exports. IT Enabled Services were picking up in Tamil Nadu, said J. Parthasarathy, director, STPI Chennai, adding that areas such as e-publishing and knowledge process outsourcing had a lot of potential for employment.
According to 2008-09 data, the IT industry employs 2,85,000 people, he said, adding that in 2007-08, the figure was around 2,45,000.
“Despite the economic challenges faced by all sectors, it’s heartening to note that the industry is a net hirer,” said R. Chandrasekaran, president and managing director, Global delivery, Cognizant.
“More importantly, because of greater emphasis on domain and consulting, and rapid growth in BPO and IT Infrastructure Services, the industry is no longer restricted to hiring only engineering graduates,” he said, adding that graduates and postgraduates in fields including commerce, humanities, pharmacy, and law were being recruited.
The total number of units registered with STPI is 1,683 as of 2008-09, an increase of 107 over the number of units registered as of 2007-08.
Coimbatore saw the 124 approved units there clocking Rs. 373.76 crore worth exports for 2008-09. The export figures for the units in Madurai and Tiruchi for 2008-09 are Rs. 27.09 crore and Rs. 24.03 crore respectively. Madurai has 12 approved units and Tiruchi has 11. In Puducherry, the exports from 16 approved units registered under STPI were Rs. 78.65 crore for 2008-09, an increase of 22.93 per cent from the 2007-08 exports total, which was Rs. 63.98 crore.
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