Telangana IT exports cross national average by 4%

Hyderabad: By touching Rs 85,470 crore in 2016-17, Telangana It exports register a growth rate of 13.85 percent, which is nearly four percent higher than the national average. The State Information Technology Minister KT Rama Rao on Thursday released IT performance report.

“We have achieved a healthy growth rate of 13.85 percent, which is nearly four percent more than the national average of 10 percent,” he said.

On the eve of the third formation day celebrations of Telangana, the minister released annual report of IT, Electronics and Communications department.

Hyderabad accounted for 98-99% of the total exports. During 2016-17, the IT industry provided employment to an additional 24,506 professionals, taking the total workforce to 4.31 lakh, reported DH.

“We have declared that we will double the exports and direct employment by 2020. We are on course to achieve this,” Rao added. KTR, however, said that layoffs are a common practice in the technology industry.

According to a report released by the government, the second phase of the T-HUB (Telangana hub), an incubator facility for the IT start-ups coming up in an area of about 3 lakh sq ft, will be operational by the first half of 2018. It would accommodate 3,000 entrepreneurs.

The Minister also launched T Wallet – an official digital wallet of the state, which offers anytime, anywhere platform for digital payments with no additional charges for citizens. The wallet supports payments for the government, private organisations and individuals and is accessible on desktops, laptops, smartphones, feature phones and at ‘Mee Seva’ (Citizen Services) centres.