Software exports to top $80 bn by '08

Software and services industry continued to play a dominant role in the overall growth of Indian economy in 2003-04, Union Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed said in Kochi on Wednesday.

The total value of software and service export was estimated to have increased 30 per cent to $12.5 billion in 2003-04 over the previous year, he said after the inauguration of the third International 'Convention of Automation of Libraries in Education and Research Institutes - CALIBER 2005'.

"The prospects of IT sector are mind-boggling in the emerging global scenario," he said, adding by 2008, India's software and services export was expected to reach $80 billion and employment potential to 2.2 million with the GDP share of 7 per cent and export share of 35 per cent.

The Information and Library Network Centre, which was initiated in 1991 by UGC, has already brought in revolutionary changes in facilitating resource-sharing at various levels, he said.

With the availability of bibliographic information service and e-learning, UGC Infonet is linking about 180 universities all over the country.

The potential of information and technology was unimaginable when used as a tool to empower our people, he said.