The Mumbai-based company has achieved a growth of 50%, catapulating it to the number one slot.

According to the Dataquest annual survey of the top 20 IT companies in India, the industry registered a revenue of Rs 18,015.8 crore for 1997-98, a growth of 34.1 per cent over the previous year's figure of Rs 13,434.2 crore.

This year's survey has thrown up a number of surprises, with a software company capturing the number one position for the first time in the last decade. NIIT Ltd, the education arm of the Shiv Nadar-promoted HCL Corp is ranked at number three position, a solid jump from last year's number six slot. NIIT has posted a turnover of Rs 656.2 crore, indicatinga growth of 45.6 per cent for the year under review.

On the whole, three new companies have stormed into the Dataquest top 20 club, widely considered as the most comprehensive and authoritative annual survey on the Indian IT industry.

Price warrior Zenith Computer Ltd clawed back into the club at number 19, after it was placed at number 21 last year. Two more companies, Infosys Technologies Ltd (number 16) and Satyam Computer Services (number 20), have also clawed their way back into the list after being at number 22 and 30, respectively last year.

Drop outs this year include Pertech Computers Ltd (PCL), Advance Technology Devices (ATD) and Tancom Electronics. While PCL is undergoing liquidation proceedings and is on the verge of closure, ATD and Tancom (both Tandon companies) are hardware component exporters, who have been affected by the Southeast Asian crisis.

"The increase in the number of software and service companies in the list reflects the arrival of software as the dominant aspect ofthe Indian IT industry," said Dataquest group chief editor L Subramanyan.

Last year was marred by political uncertainty, financial crunch in the domestic market and the rupee tailspin, he said. Insurance, banking and finance companies, traditionally the key buyers, curtailed purchases heavily during the last two quarters.

"Despite all this, the industry has managed to do well compared to the other sectors," he said, adding that enthusiastic buying by the small office/home office (SOHO) segment last year indicated the potential of this segment.

The service side of the industry saw a boom due to significant investments, to grow by 50 per cent. Manufacturing and banking and the financial sector segment continued to be the largest buyers, accounting for 25 per cent and 24 per cent of the domestic IT spend, respectively.