'Software exports from STPIs to grow at 8 per cent per year'

Exports from Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) is expected to grow at around 8 per cent per year, its director-general Omkar Rai said.
Last year, India's total IT exports in value terms stood at USD 117 billion, out of which, 55 per cent were from units located at STPI, and the balance from those in the SEZs.
He said that the share of exports from the SEZs has been rising as these locations offer better incentives than the SEZs.
Rai, who was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a Confederation of Indian Industry event here, said that the BPO promotion scheme launched by the government to take the IT industry to small towns is being tweaked to make it incentives based on operational expenditure.

The government floated the scheme to create 54,000 seats across small towns and the North Eastern states entailing an expenditure of Rs 550 crore.
On West Bengal, he said 3,400 such seats have been allotted and one company booked 100 of them.
Out of the Rs 550 crore outlay, only one-fourth has been spent for creating 19,600 seats including the North East.