Gujarat IT firms peg 15 per cent growth in software exports

US market looks better for Gujarat-based IT industry as far as software exports are concerned

With rupee appreciating against dollar in recent times to stand at roughly Rs 54 levels, the Gujarat based Information Technology (IT) companies are hopeful it will augment export orders by 10-12 per cent. The industry is of the view that the rupee strengthening against dollar will attract more clients as business gets more viable for the latter.

"In last three years, foreign exchange had been fluctuating a lot. However, in the recent few months, there has been some consistency between rupee and dollar. This will attract more overseas clients for us. Plus, this could also mean 10 per cent higher realisation for us as well due to increased orders," said Rajan Vasa, CMD, Contech BPO Services Pvt. Ltd.

Add to that, with the IT companies hedging currencies well in advance, the industry is not worried of reduced export earnings due to rupee appreciation. "Now that almost all companies hedge currencies, rupee appreciation is not much of a worry. Also, rather than signing a single currency agreement with any client who is present in multiple countries, we now segment these agreements into local currencies. Hence, if a US-based client is present in South American and African, we will sign separate agreements in local currencies for these markets," said Jay Ruparel, co-founder of Azure Knowledge Corporation Pvt. Ltd.

The US market is also looking better for Gujarat-based IT industry as far as software exports are concerned. This was not the case in the first half of the fiscal 2012-13.

"Apart from rupee appreciation, the other reason for attracting more export orders to IT firms in Gujarat is that the US market is doing better while there are emerging markets showing promise too," added. Ruparel.

While the industry is projecting a software exports growth of 10-15 per cent, Azure is estimating 30-35 per cent for itself.

"Europe will be more or less flat but we have increased our visibility in emerging markets like BRIC nations and Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey (MINT) regions. The emerging markets itself could garner a 60-70 per cent growth this year in terms of exports for us. However, overall for the company the growth from both exports and domestic markets put together could be 30-35 per cent," Ruparel said. The Ahmedabad-based knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) company is pegging its turnover at $ 20 million (Rs 108 crore roughly).

According to Vasa, founder of the Gujarat Electronics and Software Industries Association (GESIA), the software exports from Gujarat is estimated to be over Rs 2,000 crore for fiscal 2012-13, up from Rs 1500 crore in 2011-12.