The role of Small and Medium Enterprises SMEs in the IT sector would be crucial in reaching the target of $60 billion in software exports by 2010, Nasscom President Kiran Karnik has said.

Karnik opined that the target cannot be reached with just the top 10 IT companies. It can be achieved only when Small and Medium Enterprises sector became giants of tomorrow, he said.

"We are looking at India as a powerhouse of intellectual property creation.

In this context SMEs have a crucial role to play," he said.

Nasscom is planning to take an SME delegation to various countries to market their business and create linkages between domestic and foreign SMEs.

The team would start the tour with Europe.

Also, the creation of townships on the lines of those created in 1950s for the manufacturing sector was one of the things that the industry wanted the government to implement, the Nasscom chief said.

Such facilities were required as the current physical infrastructure was inadequate for the industry to achieve the $60 billion target, he said.

Infrastructure was a serious concern for the industry, he said and sought measures to enhance infrastructure in places where the industry operated.

( www.financialexpress.com)