Hardware exports from India have grown by 50 per cent to Rs 1,800 crore (Rs 18 billion) in 2001-02 against Rs 1,200 crore (Rs 12 billion) in the previous year in value terms, said the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council.

Export turnover of head stacks, which were the largest items among hardware exports, rose 9.37 per cent to Rs 920 crore (Rs 9.2 billion) during 2001-02 over Rs 811 crore (Rs 8.11 billion) in the previous year, the ESC said in a statement.

The exports of switching mode power supply, the second-largest items exported from the country, registered a growth of 28 per cent at Rs 21 crore (Rs 210 million) in 2001-02 as against Rs 16 crore (Rs 160 million) in the previous fiscal.

The council said Singapore, Hong Kong and other countries in the region have emerged as a major destination for computer hardware exports and the total export to this region rose by 20 per cent to Rs 1,325 crore (Rs 13.25 billion) during 2001-02 over Rs 1,107 crore (Rs 11.07 billion) in 2000-01.

The other important destinations for export of hardware during 2001-02 included Europe, the US, Middleeast, Australia and Africa.

According to ESC executive director D K Sareen, "We are taking proactive steps for increasing the hardware exports from the country. One such step is encouraging computer hardware companies in southeast Asia to relocate their production bases to India."

Because of the overheated wage structure in these countries, production cost has considerably gone up forcing them to relocate their bases to countries where  factor costs including wage cost are relatively low.

"We have to outbid China in this process, which is extending a slew of incentives to attract investment in the hardware sector through appropriate policy tooling," Sareen said.