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Karnataka aims to generate $150 bn in IT export revenues in next 5 years- The New Indian Express

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Express News Service

BENGALURU: The Karnataka government, with an ambitious target of reaching $150 billion in revenue in IT exports in another five years, plans to capture markets across the state, with a greater focus on cities or clusters ‘Beyond Bengaluru’.

“At present, Beyond Bengaluru contributes 2 per cent of IT revenue export — close to Rs 10,000 crore, and we want this to reach 5 per cent, which is Rs 50,000 crore, in the next five years. This is five times more than the present growth,” said Minister for IT and BT Dr CN Ashwath Narayan in an exclusive interaction with The New Indian Express on Monday.

The Beyond Bengaluru initiative aims at bringing in at least 100 Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) companies and 5,000 IT companies and startups by 2026 in Beyond Bengaluru clusters. The initiative is aimed at enhancing the growth in IT/ITeS, Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO), Electronic System Design Manufacturing (ESDM), and telecom sector industries located in emerging technology clusters across Karnataka, away from Bengaluru.

Karnataka contributes over Rs 58 lakh crore (US$ 58 billion) in exports as it is home to over 5,500 IT/ITeS companies. “From Bengaluru, now we are focusing on beyond Bengaluru. Instead of expanding in Bengaluru, we are asking companies to expand their presence beyond this city,” the minister said. 

Govt eyes 60 lakh jobs in IT

Ashwathnarayan added that the government is providing various incentives to companies that invest in cities other than Bengaluru. Dr Narayan said all these initiatives will create 60 lakh jobs both direct and indirect in the next five years, including employment opportunities in startups, IT/ITeS and research and development (R&D), among others.

One of the focus areas of this year’s Bengaluru Tech Summit-2021, which will be held from November 17-19, is Beyond Bengaluru to encourage setting up sister city collaborations with emerging cities of Karnataka and Global Innovation Alliance partners. Investors from the Gulf Cooperation Council too are showing a growing interest in Karnataka, he said.

“Karnataka is the land of opportunities and our competitors are not other (Indian) states, but countries,” he said. The BTS-2021 will be inaugurated by Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, and will be attended virtually by PMs of Australia and Israel.

State govt looks to bridge digital divide through sat services
With the Karnataka Government emphasising on taking industries ‘Beyond Bengaluru’, the state is planning to have satellite services for better internet facilities in rural and remote areas over the next two years. The state is committed to providing better internet connectivity to the last person, Minister for IT and BT Dr C N Ashwath Narayan said on Monday.

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