About 23,000 people employed in IT-enabled services generated a revenue of Rs 980 crore in 1998.

The national IT task force on information technology has identified IT-enabled services as a major thrust area for the next 10 years in its third report on IT vision for the country.

Already, at least four state governments of Goa, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir and Orissa are looking at IT-enabled services as a major focus area. In its recently announced IT policy, Goa has said it will build an IT-enabled habitat in Bambolim near Panjim.

Delhi has set up a high-powered panel headed by the lieutenant-governor to find ways and means to promote IT-enabled services, while Orissa has already attracted three non-resident Indians to set up data processingcentres and medical transcription centres in Bhubaneswar.

The National Association of Software and Services Companies has just conducted a study for the J&K government. According to Nasscom president Dewang Mehta, it will recommend setting up of two IT-enabled parks in Jammu and Srinagar.

"At Nasscom, we have identified IT-enabled services as a major growth opportunity in the next five years. We believe that it will give a major boost to employment and export revenue," said Mehta.

It has planned to hold a two-day seminar in Delhi next month to impart guidance to potential entrepreneurs on how to set up IT-enabled services even without non-IT background.

More than 80 per cent of the world's top companies rely on communication-based services and consider resource centres as integral to their customer service strategies. Globally, telephone-based services industry is estimated at $200 billion and growing at 23 per cent per annum.Similarly, other IT-enabled services such as backoffice management,transcription and content development is emerging as a $75 billion industry, growing at more than 20 per cent annually.

The US already has a well-established IT-enabled services industry with as much as 65 per cent global revenues coming from these alone. However, the next phase of growth is expected to come from Europe.

According to the Nasscom survey, India offers many advantages to serving as an IT-enabled services destination for major global companies. These include a virtual 12-hour time zone difference between the US and other major markets for IT-enabled services, a huge pool of English-speaking and computer literate skilled and semi-skilled manpower and the cost of qualified personnel being among the lowest in the world.

Nasscom has suggested a slew of measures for drawing up a suitable environment for IT-enabled services. It has asked for support and evangelising from the Government for proliferation of IT-enabled services industry on a nation-wide scale which has already started with theinclusion of these services under the purview of Section 80 HHE of the Income-tax Act. The Exim policy too has extended special import licence (SIL) benefits to IT-enabled export services.