Hubli: India's software exports would touch Rs 300,000 crore by 2010, Union Minister for Communication and Information Technology, Pramod Mahajan said.

Inaugurating the IT park in Hubli on September 19, Mahajan said two more IT parks in Belgaum and Gulbarga would be sanctioned soon by the government.

The future of communication lies in IT. And with private players like Tata Teleservices and Reliance coming into Telecom, telephone connections in the country would be over four crore by 2010, he said.

Karnataka Minister for Information Technology, D B Inamdar who presided over the function said an investment of Rs 300,000 crore had been made on this IT park so far.

Inamdar said in the years to come IT would play a greater role in employment generation and help create one million jobs.

The state government has released Rs 5 crore for the biotech centre coming up at Dharwad, he said, adding a marine biotechnology centre would also be set up in Karwar, Uttar Karnataka soon.

PTI