Chennai, July 8 A steep increase in exports by information technology and IT-enabled Services (ITeS) units located at Special Economic Zones (SEZs) enabled Tamil Nadu to register a 29 per cent growth in software exports to Rs 36,680 crore in the year 2008-09.
The figures for the previous year were Rs 28,426 crore
In 2008-09, the
SEZ IT and ITeS units alone contributed revenue of Rs 6,102 crore, which was nearly a 241-per cent increase over the corresponding year’s figure of Rs 1,787 crore, according to Mr J. Parthasarathy, Director, Software Technology Parks of India (Tamil Nadu and Puducherry).
Puducherry exports
Software exports from Puducherry registered a 23-per cent growth to Rs 79 crore (Rs 64 crore). The IT and ITeS SEZs brought in an investment of Rs 3,063 crore during the fiscal. As of March end, 19 IT and ITES SEZs are operational in the State, and of these, 18 are in Chennai, he told newspersons.
The IT and ITeS industry employed around 2.85 lakh (2.44 lakh) people in the State. The IT and ITeS units in the SEZ alone employed 45,481 people, he said.
Hardware
Hardware exports in 2008-09 increased by Rs 1 crore to Rs 263 crore. There are 18 registered units at present in the State. Of these, three units were started during the year, he said.
The Tamil Nadu IT secretary, Mr P. W. C. Dawidar, said the State was committed to expanding IT infrastructure in Tier II cities of Madurai, Tiruchi and Tirunelveli. This year, we are moving very quickly in creating the infrastructure,” he said.
The construction of Tidel Park at Coimbatore (the second in the State after the one in Chennai) should be completed by the year-end.
The park has an area of 2,00,000 sq ft on each floor and a total built-up area of 1.8 million sq ft.
Source : Business Line