Bangalore: Weathering the global information technology (IT) slowdown, software exports from Karnataka touched Rs 9,903 crore during 2001-2002, reflecting a robust 33 per cent jump, ahead of the national growth rate.

Last fiscal, Karnataka had exported software worth Rs 7,475 crore and its performance in 2002 is against the national software and software services export growth of 29 per cent announced by NASSCOM on May 2.

Briefing reporters on the state IT sector performance. Software technology Parks of India (STPI) executives said Karnataka's growth is the highest among the software growth centres in the country.

For the fiscal ended March 31, 2002, two companies achieved more than Rs 1,000 crore, 13 companies over Rs 100 crore and 95 companies in the range of Rs 10 crore and Rs 100 crore, STPI (Bangalore) director B V Naidu said.

In Bangalore, 110 companies were registered during the last fiscal, 60 per cent of which were 100 per cent foreign equity companies.

Notably, the Electronic Hardware Technology Park (EHTP) companies have also grown with the overall hardware exports reaching Rs 839 crore, recording an impressive 129 per cent rise over 2001, Naidu said.

"In spite of the September 11 crisis, Bangalore continues to attract one new 100 per cent foreign equity company every week", Karnataka IT secretary Vivek Kulkarni said. The 129 per cent growth of hardware sector was also "fantastic", he said.

PTI