HYDERABAD: Union Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Killi Kruparani said that the government is currently aiming to enhance software exports by ten times of the existing figure, in the next seven years. The figure shall touch Rs 20 lakh crore with this rise.
 
In 2012, the software export figure for India stood at Rs 2.5 lakh crore. Kruparani also said that the country shall get 10 more Software Technology Parks of India (STPIs) by the coming year, taking the total number to 61.
 
STPIs stand exempted from payment of custom duty and central excise. Currently, they are bidding the government to free them from Central sales tax. If this is granted, more offshore investment shall flow into the country’s information technology sector.
 
Besides the ten-fold increase target for software exports, the government aims creation of 1.2 crore opportunities for direct employment and 5 crore opportunities for indirect employment by 2020.

In a bid to make villages more technologically driven, the Centre shall ensure that 15,000 panchayats in Andhra Pradesh gain access to Broadband internet connection by May next year, under National Optical Fibre Network project (NOFN). The project, worth Rs 20,000 crore, shall cover 2.5 lakh panchayats across villages.