As is already known, the IT industry in this country has come a long way, having grown almost five times between 1995 and 2000, from about $ 2 billion to $ 9.6 billion. Out of this hardware sector -- domestic registered a turnover of $ 4 billion, software sector --- exports a turnover of $ 3.9 billion and software sector --- domestic a turnover of $ 1.7 billion.

Presently over 1,000 Indian and multinational companies are involved in manufacturing products or delivering services. PC sales, in fiscal 2000, grew 50 per cent at 1.5 million units. The country boasts of over 650,000 internet connections with over 2 million users. (Nasscom's figures boast of much higher connections and users).

In India, like world over, the government has been a key driver of the IT. In India, in fiscal 2000, the government accounted for 28 per cent of total IT spending followed by banking and finance (16 per cent), transportation (13 per cent), telecom (12 per cent), manufacturing (12 per cent), SOHO (7 per cent), oil and petrochemicals (5 per cent), education (2 per cent) and retail (2 per cent).