In Charts: Karnataka Is India's IT Powerhouse With More Than A Third Of Software Exports, Maharashtra And Telangana Among Top 3

Solidifying its position as the undisputed leader of India's Information Technology industry, Karnataka accounted for more than a third of India's software exports in the year 2021-22.

The combined software exports from the registered STPI (Software Technology Parks of India) and SEZ (Special Economic Zone) in the state for the year 2021-22 was over Rs 3.95 lakh crore ($53 billion), data made available by the Ministry Of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY) showed.

With more than 21 lakh people are employed in the software industry with high paying jobs, centered mostly in Bengaluru city, the state is likely to sustain its advantage as the country's software powerhouse. Bengaluru has more than 50 unicorns (companies with valuation of more than USD 1 billion)—47% of India’s total of ~106 unicorns. It has 15,000+ startups today. Karnataka received more than $16 billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during the pandemic-struck CY (calendar year) 21 and an estimated USD 10 billion in the first 6 months of CY 22, signaling the potential of its technology-based growth engines.

In the year 2021-22, Maharashtra's software exports was worth Rs 2. 37 lakh crore ($31 billion), while Telangana's software exports were at Rs 1.81 lakh crore ($31 billion).

Karnataka accounted for 34.2 percent of India's software/IT exports while Maharashtra's share was at 20.4 percent. Telangana contributed 15.6 percent of the country's software/IT exports.

MeITY also revealed data on state-wise software exports trends over the last three financial years.

According to RBI's 'Survey on Computer Software and Information Technology Enabled Services Exports: 2021-22' released in Sep 2022, India’s overall exports of software services (excluding exports through commercial presence) in 2021-22 was at Rs 11.67 lakh crore ($156.7 billion), a jump of 17.2 per cent over the previous year.

The United States and Canada were the top destination for software exports with 55.5 per cent share, followed by Europe, of which, nearly half was attributed to the United Kingdom.

The share of off-site mode of exports of software services continued to increase and stood at 88.8 per cent in 2021-22 as compared with 82.8 per cent five years ago.