The country's IT exports under the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) scheme logged an estimated Rs 83,436 crore in the first half of the current financial year, with Bangalore accounting for over 30 per cent of the total export basket.
“At this point, the STPI exports have shown over 10 per cent growth over the year-ago period,” Mr N Krishnan, Director-General, STPI, told Business Line.
According to the data collected by STPI from its various jurisdiction sites, Bangalore is estimated to have clocked Rs 25,523 crore in IT exports, with Maharashtra fetching Rs 19,739 crore and Hyderabad at Rs 15,800 crore in first half. Exports from Noida location stood at Rs 10,910 crore, with Chennai following closely at Rs 7,505 crore.
Among other centres, Guwahati is expected to have clocked exports of Rs 3,029 crore, while for Gandhinagar and Thiruvananthapuram are pegged at Rs 492.30 crore and Rs 438.30 crore, respectively.
The figures available also point out that the IT exports under Special Economic Zone (SEZs) in the same locations stood at a cumulative Rs 9,682.74 crore.
For the last fiscal (FY09), exports under the STPI scheme were at Rs 2,07,358 crore, nearly 15 per cent higher than FY08.
The STPI exports stood at Rs 1,80,155 crore in FY08.
According to the official statistics, besides the STPI scheme, as much as Rs 17,698 crore of IT exports is estimated to have been logged by SEZ units in FY09, compared to Rs 5,618 crore a year ago.
New centre
Meanwhile, STPI is all set to launch a new centre in Bahrampur, Orissa.
The STP unit would come with 10,000 square feet of space.
This will be the third centre in Orissa after Bhubaneswar and Rourkela, Mr Krishnan pointed out.
In the Union Budget presented in July, the Government had extended the sunset clause for the Income Tax holiday under Section 10A/B by one year, allowing the IT companies a breather till March 2011.
Besides the tax holiday, STP scheme also allows other benefits such as a single-window clearance and 100 per cent Customs duty exemption on imports of capital equipment among others.
Source : Business Line