The Hindu Business Line : `IT sector clocks 24 pc growth in 2003-04'

REVERSING earlier trend, the domestic IT market registered a whopping 24 per cent growth in 2003-04 beating software exports growth, even as Indian IT industry touched $20 billion-mark, according to a survey by IT industry publication Dataquest.

The survey said that the tables had turned, as after two bad years, the local Infotech market suddenly woke up to record a 24 per cent growth.

Stating that the domestic market growth has overtaken software exports' 17 per cent growth, a Dataquest release said that with inclusion of business process outsourcing (BPO) and hardware exports, the overall exports growth came to 24 per cent-level with the domestic market.

"Within the domestic market, services grew by 26 per cent and hardware grew 23 per cent, up from the previous year's 5 per cent growth," the release said.

The overall IT industry grew at 24 per cent in 2003-04 to touch $$20 billion (Rs 92,924 crore).

"IT exports growth slowed down a little bit to 24 per cent (Rs 59,550 cr), down from 26 per cent growth the previous year," the statement said.

The survey said that Tata Sons made up the biggest group of IT businesses, with a total IT turnover of Rs 7,734 crore (including, at Rs 5,827 crore, TCS, India's biggest IT company).

BPO continued to be a rapid growth area, expanded 45 per cent to touch Rs 16,380 crore. And hardware exports, though still small, crossed the Rs 2,000-crore mark, growing by 72 per cent.

The survey observed that the appreciating rupee had taken toll on software exports. While software exports grew at over 25 per cent in dollar terms, it grew only 17 per cent in rupee terms.

One of the few areas of decline in the domestic market was the training industry, which showed negative growth for the third year in a row.

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