Software Exports From India's Technology Hub Soar

By Agence France-Presse Software exports from India's technology hub of Bangalore shot up 34% in the first five months of the current fiscal year compared to the same period the previous year, according to an official from Software Technology Parks of India, a government body that facilitates exports. B.V. Naidu, director of Software Technology Parks of India, said about 1,400 IT companies based in Bangalore clocked export revenues of 75 billion rupees (US$1.6 billion) in the five months to August. During the previous year software exports for the five months to August totaled 56 billion rupees. India's fiscal year starts April 1. "Ninety-two new IT companies have set up base in Bangalore during the last six months with a total investment of 11 billion rupees," says Naidu told. "Out of them, 20 were outsourcing firms." A host of foreign firms have set up Indian bases to take advantage of a vast pool of computer-literate, English-speaking workers who earn a fraction of their Western peers' wages. Bangalore is home to companies such as Accenture, Cisco, General Electric, IBM, Intel, Sun Microsystems and Texas Instruments. Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2004