Monday, July 23, 2001		Article

Indian IT industry’s revenue soars

FOR the first time, the Indian IT industry crossed the $ 10-billion mark during 2001. This has been revealed in the annual round up of the IT industry brought out by Computers Today magazine in its July 1-15, 2001 issue.

According to the survey, the big 12 companies in the Computers Today listing of 101 companies together clocked Rs 21,014 crore, nearly 45 per cent of the total turnover. These firms are confident of rolling further fairly stable in the current year, although a majority of them are exposed to the sluggish US market.

In 2000-01, almost 30 software companies in India exported more than Rs 200-crore worth software and services. Total Internet connections in India crossed the two-million mark to touch 22.80 lakh. The total installed base of personal computers crossed 43.5 lakh and telephones crossed 3.2 crore. The total number of cellular phone users reached 38.71 lakh at the end of May 2001, with the four metros contributing to 38 per cent.

The Indian Infotech Industry revenues for 2000-01 at Rs 47,270 crore represents an increase of 60 per cent over revenues of Rs 29,513 crore recorded in the previous year.

The software exports at Rs 24,720 crore recorded a growth of 62 per cent. Domestic hardware grew 58 per cent to touch Rs 11,250 crore.

The computer training industry recorded a 45 per cent growth to touch Rs 2,150 crore. According to the magazine, C# and Microsoft NET (pronounced dot net) are part of the hot list of courses. The IIITs and government bodies do not seem to have made much of an impact in the training market. A few initiatives like tie-ups with international universities too do not seem to be making a big difference, says Computers Today.

The home and small office segment accounted for nearly half of 17.23 lakh PCs sold in the country in 2001. This is 46 per cent higher than 11.28 lakh computers sold last year.The year 2000-01 saw a great thrust to take infotech to the masses, especially in the rural areas. On this front, the launch of Simputer was one of the milestones. This low-cost (around 9,000), hand-held mobile computing device would help in carrying out applications related to micro banking, data collection, agricultural information, school , laboratories and provide Net access. IPA