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''The year 1998-99 witnessed the highest ever growth for Indian software exports in the last decade,'' said Dewang Mehta, president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies.

With this velocity of business and continued government, support, software exports during 1999-2000 will continue to grow unabated at over 50 per cent and is expected to touch $3.92 billion (Rs 167 billion), he said.

NASSCOM represents 520 top software exporters, comprising 95 per cent of revenues.

Mehta said software revenue from domestic market grew at 41 per cent over 1997-98 and accounted for Rs 49.5 billion.

The volume of total Indian software industry during 1998-99 was put by the NASSCOM survey at Rs 158.9 billion, up from Rs 100.4 billion in 1997-98.

The losses due to software piracy piled up to Rs 8 billion. But, at the same time, more than 203 of the Fortune 1,000 companies outsourced their software requirements to India.

''This clearly establishes that more and more global companies are outsourcing their software requirements to India and are gaining competitive advantage,'' Mehta said.

The NASSCOM survey shows that India exported software to 86 countries around the world with almost 61 per cent of exports to the United States and Canada, besides 23 per cent to European countries.

The top exporters included Tata Consulting Services, Wipro, Pentafour, Infosys, NIIT, Satyam and HCL Technologies.

The solutions for Y2K revenues generated business worth $560 million and accounted for 20 per cent of exports. ''The Indian industry is now focussing on greater opportunities beyond Y2K, including upcoming segments of electronic commerce, Euro conversion and the wide-ranging gamut of IT-enabled services,'' Mehta said.

The survey indicates the global slowdown in spending for Y2K software solutions will not adversely affect the industry's export as many companies have started retraining their employees and are focusing on new emerging areas.

''During 1998-99, IT-enabled services generated total revenues of Rs 1,130 crore (Rs 11.3 billion) for the Indian industry. Of this, almost Rs 590 crore (Rs 5.9 billion) were earned through exports,'' Mehta said. By 2008, over 1 million additional jobs can be created in this sector, generating annual revenue of Rs 810 billion.

However, the industry requires to move faster on the value chain ladder and get more involved in strategic consulting, brand management for customers, research and development, providing Web based and e-commerce kind of interactive services to customers.

According to the NASSCOM survey, research and development spending in the software industry increased from 2.5 per cent of total spending to about 3.2 per cent in 1998-99.

Also, research and development outsourcing orders from overseas companies fetched about Rs 7.5 billion.

The Top 20

Rank	Companies			Exports 1998-99
					(in Rs billion)   
1.	Tata Consultancy Services                    15.19
2.	Wipro Infotech                                6.35
3.	Pentafour Software			      5.12
4.	Infosys Technologies			      5.01
5.	NIIT Limited				      3.95
6.	Satyam Computer Services		      3.77
7.	Cognizant Technology Solutions	              2.90
8.	IBM Global Services			      2.28
9.	DSQ Software Limited		              2.23
10.	Tata Infotech Limited			      2.21
11.	Patni Computer Systems		              2.19
12.	HCL Technologies India		              2.07
13.	Mahindra British Telecom		      1.72
14.	L&T Information Technology	              1.44
15.	International Computers India	              1.43
16.	IMR Global Limited			      1.39
17.	Citicorp IT Industries			      1.33
18.	Mastek Limited			              1.29
19.	Complete Business Solutions		      1.09
20.	Silverline Industries			      1.03

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