TN's software exports up 40%

Tamil Nadu's software exports for the year 2004-05 rose by 40. 43 per cent, surpassing the Rs 10,000-crore mark at Rs 10,703.10 crore as compared to Rs 7621.50 crore achieved in 2003-04.

The number of new companies approved under Software Technology Parks India-Chennai was 103, taking the total number of approved companies past the 1,000-company mark to 1,095, according to a release from STPI.

The top 10 companies which include Cognizant, TCS, Satyam and Infosys made a bulk of the contribution of about Rs 7,000 crore. Contribution from five companies exceeded Rs 500 crore, while about 14 companies contributed between Rs100 and Rs 500 crore.

Secondary cities like Coimbatore contributed about Rs 49 crore while other places like Salem, Sivakasi and Ranipet are picking up.

Application software and system software accounted for 73 per cent of the exports amounting to Rs 7,821 crore, whereas ITeS contributed to about 15 per cent, web application has witnessed a huge growth from 0.5 per cent to 9 per cent, while product/packages have grown from less than 1 per cent to 3 per cent.

The total electronic hardware exports from the state is Rs 358.00 crore.

Pondicherry, which is also under STPI-Chennai, has registered exports to a tune of Rs 27.20 crore in 2004-05 as compared to Rs 21.10 crore that it achieved in the previous year.