AP wants to pip Bangalore in race for more IT exports

Hyderabad, Jan. 11: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy on Wednesday exhorted software exporters from Andhra Pradesh to catch up with their Karnataka counterparts. Speaking at the inauguration of the Gitex India 2006 technology exhibition here, Dr Reddy said, “The target for 2006 is to better 65 per cent growth in IT exports from the State that we had last fiscal. The target this year should be 70 per cent.”
“And if we fail to achieve that,” Dr Reddy said, turning to minister of IT and mines, Sabita Indra Reddy, secretary K. Ratna Prabha and Satyam Computer Services Ltd. chairman, B. Ra-malinga Raju, “our endeavour would have failed.”
Software companies in the State would indeed require some hard work to play catch-up with Karnataka, given that Karnataka recorded exports of Rs 28,000 crores in 2004-05, compared to AP’s Rs 8,270 crores. Apart from Hyderabad, Dr Reddy has also been promoting so-called “Tier II” cities like Vizag, Vijayawada and Nellore among the technology industry. The strategy ap-pears to have found takers, with seven companies, who signed MoUs with the State government on Wednesday, planning to set up units in Vizag.
A total of 16 IT companies, including Patni Computer Systems, Intelligroup, and Cognizant have signed MoUs with the government. The 16 companies would be investing Rs 657 crores in their proposed campuses, creating jobs for 34,417 people. Apart from this, Dr Reddy said plans were afoot to set up a 1200 acre hardware SEZ for attracting investments from the hardware majors. According to him, “The hardware sector was neglected till now, but with the SEZ we hope to fulfil the dem-ands of hardware companies.”
Meanwhile, Satyam with exports of Rs 1821 crore in 2004-05, Wipro Ltd. (Rs 972 crore) and Microsoft India (Rs 802 crore) were awarded for being the top three exporters in the IT sector instituted by the State government. The fifth edition of Gitex India 2006 includes a consumer electronics and technology exhibition for the public. In an effort to encourage more participation, the State government has offered a four per cent VAT refund to the ex-hibitors, which can be passed on to consumers, the organisers said.