India leads in IT export: World Bank

WASHINGTON: The World Bank on Wednesday said India leads all countries in exports of information communication technology (ICT) services.

In its latest report 'World Development Indicators 2009', World Bank said India's exports from the ICT sector increased from about USD 5 billion in 2000 to over USD 30 billion in 2006. This accounts for about 42 per cent of total service exports, it said.

At a time when there is a global recession and hundreds and thousands of people are being laid off, India's software industry employs about 1.6 million people, the report said.

China, though a distant second, is the next largest ICT services trader, with about USD 5.5 billion in ICT service exports, the report said.

The report said China and India were among the fastest-growing exporters. Export growth was led by manufactures in China and by services in India, it said.