India can create 50,000 new software jobs, add $2.1 billion to its GDP and generate an additional $92 million in taxes if it brings down software piracy by 10 per cent to 60 per cent during the next four years, global infotech research firm IDC said on Wednesday.

A IDC study conducted for Business Software Alliance, a worldwide organisation of software publishers, has also projected that the country's IT sector, estimated at $5 billion, would also be the fastest growing IT sector in the Asia-Pacific region, moving up from the regions's sixth to the fifth largest by 2006 if piracy is reduced.

"By further reducing its software piracy rate, India could accelerate 167 per cent instead of 148 per cent between now and 2006," Jeffrey Hardee, vice president and regional director, Asia Pacific of BSA told a news conference in New Delhi.

He said India's IT sector, which lags behind Japan, Australia, China, Taiwan and South Korea, could also more than double its size to $13 billion by 2006 by reducing piracy by 10 per cent.

Dismissing any correlation between the prohibitive price of original software and piracy, Hardee said most of the highly-pirated software products were the low-priced ones.

Hardee said the Indian government like others should play an active role in reducing piracy by increasing education and awareness, combating digital and internet piracy, reducing optical disk piracy through strong regulations and tackling organised piracy crimes.

The global IDC study was conducted for BSA to assess the impact of information technology in 57 countries, including 14 in Asia.

Advocating IT sector as an engine for global economic growth, Hardee said the sector now employs nine million people in over 4,000 companies worldwide and supports 21 million more IT professionals in various other industries.

In the Asia-Pacific region, the sector already employs about three million people and generates 95 billion dollars annually in tax revenues.

This sector, Hardee said, could double in size in just four years growing from $175 billion to $330 billion by reducing piracy by 10 per cent.

Besides, it would create 1.1 million new jobs, $170 billion in additional economic growth and over $15 billion in tax revenues in the region.

During 1996 and 2001, the software sector in the Asia-Pacific region grew by 55 per cent as compared to six per cent for hardware and 11 per cent for the services sector, he said.