The finished steel industry bagged the top slot in the industry-wise classification of top exporters with total exports to the tune of 3,096.7 crore -- a growth of 38.7 per cent. Cotton and blended yarn ranked number two with total exports of 3,010.4 crore and drugs and pharmaceuticals came third with total exports of Rs 2,761.9 crore. As expected, the highest growth in exports was registered in computer software. With a rise of 88 per cent, total exports by the industry stood at Rs 1,306.8 crore.

Cotton and blended yarn industry earned the maximum foreign exchange for the country -- Rs 2,291.4 crore -- followed by hotels and restaurants -- Rs 1,061 crore -- and cloth -- Rs 855 crore. Drugs and pharmaceuticals ranked fourth with net exports to the tine of Rs 728.4crore. Tea and coffee ranked fifth with net exports worth Rs 705.7 crore. Interestingly, though finished steel is the top exporting industry, it registered a high net foreign exchange outflow of Rs 2,110.4 crore.

The three sectors that improved their foreign exchange earnings substantially were drugs and pharmaceuticals (106.9 per cent), gems and jewellery (113.5 per cent) and computer software (132.3 per cent).

The star performer for 1997-98 was Reliance Industries. It climbed 26 places over the previous year's position to the 13th position. Aban Lloyd Chiles Offshore with a growth rate of 225.8 per cent (rank 75), Bharat Forge (export growth of 145.8 per cent, rank 83) and Hindustan Zinc (export growth of 166.3, rank 95) were the other good performers in the survey.

Software companies performed remarkably well during 1997-98. Infosys Technologies (rank 40) registered an export growth of 98.2 per cent, Pentafour Software (rank 41) grew by 186.8 per cent, Satyam (rank 63) by 97.5 per cent, while TataInfotech 's (rank 46) export growth was 66 per cent.

Only seven of the 23 PSUs made it to the top forex earners list. VSNL came number one, Nalco number three. Besides these, BPCL ranked number 16. For the seven PSUs in the top forex earners list, sales grew by 15.1 per cent and net exports by 21.5 per cent. Net export dropped in the case of HPCL (by 48 per cent). In the private sector, sales rose by 37.2 per cent, while net exports as a whole registered a negligible growth of 0.001 per cent in the top foreign earners' category.

VSNL performed impressively in gloomy conditions and its income rose by 21.8 per cent and profit after tax grew by 91.8 per cent during the period. Despite sluggish demand for steel, Sail's exports jumped by 78.7 per cent.