The country's exports in the same period last year were to the tune of Rs 3,074 crore, according to a survey undertaken by the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom). ``India will achieve exports worth Rs 11,000 crore this fiscal. If the present rate of growth continues, we will achieve $100 billion worth of exports within next 10 years,'' said Nasscom president Saurabh Shrivastava at a press conference here on Friday.

This includes software exports of Rs 6,530 crore, while the domestic market revenue will comprise Rs 3,510 crore. As much as 23 per cent of the total software export revenue has come from Y2K projects.

According to Nasscom, the industry is poised to touch revenues of $6 billion by the year 2000 of which exports may comprise as much as $ 4 billion.

Nasscom executivedirector Dewang Mehta pointed out that the Indian industry achieved this export level despite facing many obstacles, including exhaustion of the worldwide annual cap of H-1B visas of the USA during May 1998.

Mehta denied that the Indian software industry had not taken full advantage of the Y2K opportunities. So far, Indian companies have got Y2K orders worth $1.5 billion. Some of the top software developers are too busy with their export orders to cater to requirements of the domestic industry. Euro conversion and ERP would provide the next opportunity areas for Indian software companies after the Y2K, he added.

Internet content development and legislation would be the most critical areas after the connectivity was provided by the private service providers and it will offer a tremendous opportunity for the Indian software industry. Integrating local language and local content would be crucial, he added.

With the stock of Indian software companies rising, the industry is well-poised to embark onundertaking expensive development of software products which will give them bigger profit margins and brand equity.

However, Indian software industry's capability in services area should not be undermined as global software giants were now also moving towards the software services, an area Indian companies are already known for the world over.