The aggregate market cap figure of IT industry has crossed the Rs 79,070 crore mark this month. This represents a stupendous 74.6 per cent increase of more than Rs 20,000 crore in four months as compared to the figure of Rs 59,000 crore at the end of fiscal 1998-99 ending March 31.

The present market cap figure of Rs 79,070 crore is more than 15 per cent of the total market cap at Indian stock exchanges. "This indicates growing confidence of investors in software-driven IT industry. Market price to earning ratio has also increased sharply during the period," said Nasscom president Dewang Mehta.

Infosys, Wipro, Satyam, NIIT, TCS, Pentafour, CMC and Aptech are among the top rung of companies with highest market capitalisation as reflected by their respective soaring stock.

According to Nasscom, IT industry has overtaken personal care and refineries segment for the topslot. At the end of fiscal 98-99, the market cap of personal care companies stood at Rs 75,000 crore and refineries at Rs 66,000 crore, while IT was third with Rs 59,000 crore.

The continuing dominance of software scrips in the stock markets has led to such a high-growth situation which is unlikely to be matched by the other two sectors, Mehta said.

Performance of IT industry has improved considerably over the last four years at the stock markets. Barely four years ago, IT was ranked 43rd in terms of total market cap. Within two years, it rose sharply to the 23rd position in 1997, 10th in 1998 and second in 98-99.

In the wake of such a performance by the industry, Nasscom has decided to work closely with Sebi to formulate a strategy to prevent misuse of the software tag by non-IT companies. It is also in the process of nucleating a rating agency for software industry, Mehta pointed out.

As per Nasscom's industry review for the quarter ending ending June, software exports grew 55 per cent to touch Rs3,520 crore ($800 million) as against Rs 2,270 crore during the corresponding quarter in 1998. The growth rate in Q1 of 1998-99 was 52 per cent over Q1 of the previous year.

At the end of fiscal 1999-2000, the figure is expected to cross Rs 16,700 crore, or $3.9 billion. The national IT task force has set a target of $50 billion per annum by 2008 for the software industry which Mehta said is ``quite achievable''.

Mehta attributed the continued growth trend in software exports to the growing respect for Indian software expertise overseas and creation of high brand equity by several companies.

The contribution of Y2K-related projects during Q1 was almost 20 per cent of the total. According to Nasscom, software export industry has executed Y2K projects worth over $2 billion for the overseas market since 1996.