Software exports from Hyderabad take a big plunge

DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: After witnessing quantum jumps year-over-year, software exports from Andhra Pradesh nosedived drastically in the financial year 2009-10, registering a sharp 40 per cent drop as compared to the previous year.
As per the figures presented to the state Legislative Assembly in the just-concluded Budget session, software exports turnover stood at Rs 22,000 crore in 2009-10 as against Rs 32,509 crore in 2008-09.
Significantly, a whopping 25,000 new jobs were created in the Information Technology sector in the state in 2009-10 compared to just 12,786 the previous year.
“While the IT sector as a whole looked robust, exports seemed to have tumbled because of various factors like the Satyam fiasco, global economic recession and of course the political turmoil in the state in the last few months. The impact of Satyam saga on the IT sector in Andhra Pradesh in particular could not be undermined,” a top official of the state Information and Communications Technology Department pointed out.
The Information Technology and Services Industry Association of AP (formerly Hyderabad Software Exporters’ Association), however, is not ready to take the government claims on face value and at the same time is also not willing speak anything on record.
A senior office-bearer of ITsAP said software export revenues were expected to remain “flat” in 2009-10 and touch the same figure as in 2008-09.
“The software export revenues were expected to remain flat because of the economic slowdown but we don’t expect them to fall so drastically,” he added.
In fact, ITsAP initially projected a growth in software exports from AP by 10 to 12 per cent in 2009-10 going by the Rs 12,000 crore business achieved at the end of the second quarter of the fiscal. That projection now turned out to be a far-fetched optimism.
AP’s software growth story had actually been remarkable. From just Rs 284 crore in 1997-98, software exports touched Rs 32,509 crore in 2008-09, peaking from Rs 3,668 crore (in 2002-03), Rs 5,025 crore (2003-04), Rs 8,270 crore (2004-05), Rs 12,521 crore (2005-06), Rs 18,582 crore (2006-07) and Rs 26,122 crore (2007-08).
The IT sector also grew exponentially over the years starting with 8,700 employees in 1997-98 to 2,51,786 in 2008-09.
Andhra Pradesh also has the highest number (57) of IT Special Economic Zones approved in the country of which 43 have already been notified.
“By February, 2010, 15 notified SEZs have become operational creating employment for 24,030 IT professionals. With the IT sector expanding to Tier-II cities like Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada, we expect software exports to pick up once again in 2010-11,” a top official of ICT Department said.
Both the government and the ITsAP now project software exports to touch Rs 50,000 crore over the next two years.