Andhra Pradesh recorded a 41 per cent growth in IT exports during the financial year ended March 31, 2008, at Rs 26,122 crore, as compared with Rs 18,582 crore a year ago, contributing 15 per cent to the national exports of Rs 1,77,700 crore. The growth registered by the state is against the projected national average growth rate of 32 per cent , according to E Manoj Kumar, outgoing director of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), Hyderabad.
Addressing mediapersons here on Friday, he said growth in tier-II cities was also steadily catching up with Visakhapatnam emerging as the next destination in the state. "Total exports from Vizag stood at Rs 372 crore from 80 units including HSBC, Satyam and Wipro during the year, while Vijayawada, Tirupati and Kakinada contributed Rs 56 crore, Rs 2 crore and Rs 6 crore respectively," he said. Employment generation too grew significantly with the addition of 51,550 jobs.
The state witnessed a robust growth in terms of new entrants as well, with around 4 new companies registering themselves every week for setting up shop. In all, 176 new companies were registered, of which around 40 are foreign equity companies. IT investments from foreign companies stood at Rs 654 crore, while domestic players accounted for the rest.
Kumar said STPI was focusing on initiating specific measures for supporting SME companies. "Towards this, it is planning to extend data centre and co-location support to SMEs besides expanding incubators in tier-II cities. A state-of-the-art incubation is also being set up in Hyderabad, which would be ready by this year end," he added.
Meanwhile, STPI Noida director P Venugopal assumed charge as the new director of STPI Hyderabad today.
Courtesy: Business Standard
