Lauding the performance of Indian software and services industry as one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy in the last five years, the government on Tuesday pegged the total plan outlay for the department of IT at Rs 889.27 crore (Rs 8.89 billion) for 2004-05 compared to Rs 593.58 crore (Rs 5.93 billion) in 2003-04.

"It is expected that by the year 2008, Indian IT software and services industry will account for seven per cent of India's GDP and 35 per cent of total exports," according to the Interim Budget tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Jaswant Singh.

In line with the performance of the software sector, IT-enabled services also witnessed explosive growth in the last two years, and ITES exports is likely to touch $21-24 billion by 2008.

The IT software and services industry in India accounted for 2.4 per cent of the country's GDP and 20.4 per cent of exports in 2002-03.

In the last five years, the sector recorded a compounded annual growth rate of 43 per cent and registered a  turnover of $12.7 billion and exports of $10 billion in 2002-03.

The total plan outlay for 2004-05 has been pegged at Rs 889.27 crore (Rs 8.89 billion), of which the internal and extra budgetary resources has been kept at Rs 139.27 crore (Rs 1.39 billion).