Outsourcing has expanded so quickly that the state announced a plan to train workers to fill a labour shortage.

Software exports shot up from 123.5 billion rupees to 181 billion rupees (four billion dollars) for the year ended March 2004, said B.V. Naidu, director of Software Technology Parks of India, a government body that helps exports.

The United States accounted for 64 percent of the exports while Europe emerged as the second favoured destination with 24 percent.

"The state has a 36 percent share in India's software exports which is much higher than any other centre," Naidu said. "We are expecting to keep the momentum of above 30 percent growth this fiscal."

He said 168 new firms, including 110 foreign firms and 44 devoted to outsourcing, had started in the last financial year with a total investment of 24 billion rupees (530 million dollars).

A host of foreign firms have set up Indian bases to take advantage of a vast pool of computer-literate, English-speaking workers who earn a fraction of their Western peers' wages.

About 830,000 US service jobs will have moved to lower-cost countries by the end of 2005, US-based Forrester Research said earlier this month.

Naidu said exports from outsourcing firms soared 126 percent in the last fiscal year to 22.4 billion rupees (494.5 million dollars).

"We have over 110,000 software professionals and about 60,000 people working in the outsourcing industry in Bangalore," he said.

Another information technology official, K. M. Shivakumar, said the Karnataka government planned a programme to train teachers to groom students for the outsourcing industry which is facing an acute problem of skilled labour.

India's Infosys Technologies topped the state in software exports followed by Wipro, IBM, Tata Consultancy and Texas Instruments, according to the Software Technology Parks of India.

SPACE.WIRE