The Hindu Business Line : `AP poised to garner 15 pc of software export pie'

, THE Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) has said that Andhra Pradesh is on course to garner about 15 per cent of the country's overall software export pie this fiscal.

The projected exports of about $2.7 billion (Rs 12,500 crore), would mean a growth in excess of 50 per cent over last year.

Addressing a press conference here today, the STPI Director, Mr B.V. Naidu said the overall exports stood at Rs 8,963 crore in the first nine months of this fiscal, already surpassing the overall export numbers of last year (Rs 8,270 crore).

"Given the fact that the last quarter typically records higher exports, numbers could witness faster growth. If the foreign equity participation is any indication and corroborating reports from consultant McKinsey, the State is on course to garnering about 25 per cent of the country's overall exports projected to cross $60 billion by 2010. About Rs 1,200 crore would be invested in this fiscal by about 170 companies, of them 68 foreign," he said.

With MNCs like Sharp, Honeywell on course to locating centres, and discussions on with world's largest US retailer and second largest US banking and financial services major, there is clear growth momentum, he explained.

Answering queries on the issue of special economic zones for IT coming in conflict with STPI units, Mr Naidu said discussions are now under way at the Ministry level to see how best both the STPIs and SEZs could co-exist.

A decision on this is likely soon to ensure that both are treated on par without the need for flight of companies to SEZs.

The Government has sanctioned setting up of incubation centres. What was experimented at Mangalore has been now expanded to Bangalore and the same would now be located at Hyderabad.

The Hyderabad centre would see an investment of about $2.5-3 million. Alongside this, efforts are on to locate more incubation centres in Tier-II cities.

Citing the case of Tirupati, Mr Naidu said the temple town would be ideally located between Chennai and Bangalore and has the potential to grow as another IT hub.

Therefore, efforts are on to develop an incubation centre to woo companies. Sharp has agreed to locate a centre there.

One of the initiatives STPI has embarked upon is to attract top 20 companies to locate centres in Hyderabad.

More Stories on : Software | Exports & Imports | Andhra Pradesh

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