IT industry to cross Rs 1 lakh cr in 2004-05

The industry will grow due to growth in ITeS and IT services & software and employ over 10 lakh people, said Nasscom.

India's information technology industry is estimated to cross Rs 1 lakh crore in 2004-05 and employ over 10 lakh knowledge professionals, according to National Association for Software and Service Companies (Nasscom).

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"The Indian IT industry would cross Rs 1,00,000 crore ($28.3 billion) in 2004-05, thanks to the growth in IT-enabled services (ITeS) and IT services and software," Nasscom president Kiran Karnik told reporters on Wednesday.

ITeS segment is expected to record a 20 per cent growth, up from 18.2 per cent posted in 2003-04, IT Services and Software is estimated to post 58.8 per cent (down from 59.4 per cent) and hardware at 21.2 per cent (22.4 per cent), he said.

ITS and ITeS contributes about 78 per cent to the overall industry, he said, adding the size also includes hardware sold in India by multi-national companies.

Karnik also said that IT and ITeS sectors would emerge as the major contributors to the country's GDP, providing over four per cent in 2004-05, up from 3.5 per cent recorded in 2003-04 and a meagre 1.2 per cent in 1997-98.

On the employment of IT professionals, he said it would cross 10 lakh in fiscal 2005, with software exports sector recruiting around 3.45 lakh (2.70 lakh in FY'04), software domestic sector employing 30,000 (28,000) and software in-house captive staff recruitment rising to 3.22 lakh (2.90 lakh).

ITeS sector would be the largest employment generator, staffing around 3.48 lakh in 2004-05, up from 2.54 lakh jobs provided a year-ago, he said.