Pune beats Mumbai in software exports

Pune surpassed Mumbai in software exports during the last fiscal. The city's software exports registered 48 per cent increase to hit Rs 9,100 crore (Rs 91 billion) in FY06 from Rs 6,150 crore (Rs 61.5 billion) in the year before.

It is the first time since the emergence of information technology as a major growth sector in Pune that the city has got an edge over Mumbai. The country's financial capital could muster Rs 7,300 crore (Rs 73 billion) from its software exports during 2005-06.

P Venugopal, director, Software Technology Parks of India, Maharashtra, said another striking feature of Pune's brilliant performance is the rise in the number of engineering services units being set up.

"The city is emerging as a major centre for engineering services, as 29 companies in this domain were set up in 2005-06 compared with 18 last year," he said.

"The growth has been phenomenal. Over 112 new units were registered in Pune for software and services in 2005-06. The growth in the number of units has been consistent. Over 100 units have got registered annually since 2003-04," said Venugopal.

The biggest contributor to the kitty was Infosys Technologies with exports of Rs 1,419.97 crore (Rs 14.19 billion) – the only company which crossed the Rs 1,000-crore (Rs 10-billion) mark. It is followed by Tech Mahindra at Rs 832.61 crore (Rs 8.32 billion) while Wipro contributed Rs 446.75 crore (Rs 4.46 billion) to software exports from the city and HSBC's development centre exported software worth Rs 385.91 crore (Rs 3.85 billion).

"Pune is shaping up as an attractive location for niche companies that specialise in high-end work. The city is attracting engineering services companies and others that require special skill sets such as testing software and for medical implants," Venugopal said.

Even as small and medium enterprises continue to grow with over 84 units registered during the year, MNCs are increasingly considering Pune as a preferred location.

Over 28 multinational companies  were registered during the year including Nvdia Graphics, IBM Daksh Business Process Services, Amdocs, Eaton Technologies, TACO Veraz Networks and MSC Software.

Venugopal said the new units which registered themselves in 2005-06 had projected that they would add at least 30,000 jobs over five years. "Our estimate is that they will achieve it in two years because most of them have huge expansion plans,'' he said.

According to him, companies are also willing to move to Tier II cities. Besides Pune and Mumbai, Software Technology Parks of India is promoting Aurangabad, Nashik, Nagpur and Kolhapur as new destinations.

Over 11 new units were registered at Nashik during 2005-06, two in Aurangabad, four in Nashik and one unit came up in Kolhapur. In Pune, STPI is expanding operations to new locations such as Gigaspace IT Park and Kumar IT Park and is also setting up facilities for co-location of servers and hosting services.

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