Despite the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, about 5,100 units under the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) have clocked exports worth ₹5-lakh crore (provisional) in FY20-21.

“About ₹4.60-lakh crore worth exports were registered in 2019-20. Despite enormous difficulties caused by the crisis, the STPI units could continue the growth momentum,” Omkar Rai, Director-General, STPI, told BusinessLine .

Bengaluru led the pack, followed by Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Gurugram and Noida.

“We are expecting a growth rate of 5-6 per cent in 2021-22 as the IT industry has the ability to transform other businesses in adopting digital technologies and helping them survive and grow in the difficult times,” he said.

Nasscom has pegged IT exports at $150 billion, which grew by about 2 per cent over the previous year’s exports. While Nasscom collates information from all IT and IT-enabled companies, the STPI’s figure highlights only the exports registered by the units under its purview.

Interestingly, the STPI has received 600 applications from prospective entrepreneurs that want to bring their IT businesses under the Nasscom’s purview. “Interest from the new entrepreneurs has not diminished despite the sluggish business sentiment in 2020-21. We have received 600 new applications in the crisis-ridden year, the same number that we see every year,” he said.

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More centres to be opened

The STPI, which has begun to encourage start-ups in emerging technologies, will open 12 more centres of excellence (CoEs) across the country during 2021-22. “We opened 13 such centres last year. We are going to open CoEs in Bengaluru, Patna, Akola, Dehradun, Bhubaneswar, Visakpatham and three in the North-East,” Rai said.

The CoEs offer incubation and acceleration services to start-ups in blockchain, fintech, Internet of Things, augmented reality and virtual reality, automation, gaming and animation.

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