‘Karnataka stands top among software exporting States

New Delhi: Karnataka continued to top the list of software exporting States during 2006-07, followed by Maharashtra with their contribution to the total export basket pegged at 33.36 per cent and 19.66 per cent, respectively.

According to estimates by the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC), the Southern region accounted for 61.23 per cent of the total export of computer software and services during 2006-07, which was, however, a shade lower than the percentage share clocked in the previous year (62.73 per cent).

Rising curve

“Karnataka continues to be at the top in terms of its contribution to the total exports at 33.36 per cent in 2006-07, a drop from 36.67 registered in the previous year. In absolute terms, exports are estimated to have gone up to $11.26 billion in 2006-07 against $8.7 billion during the previous year. Contribution of Karnataka to the total exports from the Southern region has worked out at over 54 per cent,” said Mr D.K. Sareen, Executive Director, ESC.

A distant second, the State of Maharashtra upped its share significantly in the software and services export pie from 16.14 per cent in 2005-06 to 19.66 per cent in 2006-07. “Importantly, Maharashtra has become the second highest software and services exporting State, ahead of Tamil Nadu (14.52 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (12.77 per cent). Share of Maharashtra in the Western region works out to 98 per cent. The Western region’s contribution to national exports was estimated at 20 per cent in 2006-07 against 16.40 per cent in 2005-06,” ESC said.

The share of Northern region has decelerated from 17.93 per cent in 2005-06 to 15.82 per cent in 2006-07. In absolute terms, exports from the region are estimated to have gone up from $4.25 billion in 2005-06 to $5.34 billion in 2006-07. Major States in the North that contributed to the exports included Haryana (6.36 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (5.88 per cent) and Delhi (2.84 per cent).

Evolving strategies

“ESC is closely looking at evolving strategies for promoting IT and services exports from States such as Uttaranchal, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab from the region, from where IT exports are insignificant, but of late picking up,” Mr Sareen said.

The Eastern region, which contributed only 2.90 per cent of the total national exports for 2006-07, was at the regional bottom rung with an estimated export of $980 million.

West Bengal contributed the lion’s share of the exports (2.4 per cent), followed by Orissa (0.50 per cent). Contributions of Bihar and Chhattisgarh were close to nil, ESC said.