The Union government would unveil initiatives to reverse the current import dependence on electronic hardware by eventually transforming the country as a global manufacturing hub of electronic goods, Sachin Pilot, Union minister of state for information technology and communications, said on Thursday.

"Over 90 per cent of the $50-billion computer and electronic goods sold in the country today are being imported.

"The demand is expected to go up to $400 billion in the next eight years, which is

more than the current oil import bill," he said at the second edition of the annual IT summit, 'Advantage AP'.

Electronic hardware is going to be the next big thing following the success story of software sector, which now contributes eight per cent to the gross domestic product, besides providing jobs to 2.9 million people, according to him.

Citing the recent global slowdown impacting the revenues of the Indian software industry, Pilot asked the IT companies to diversify the portfolio of export destinations to effectively hedge such business headwinds, and that too when 62 per cent of the Indian software exports are going to the US alone.