India has set an ambitious target to quadruple annual information technology exports to $50 billion by 2010 from $12.5 billion at present.

"Currently India's IT exports stand at $12.5 billion. We are targeting to make it $50 billion by 2010," the special secretary in Commerce MInistry, S N Menon said at a launch of Language Related Market Access Facilitation Initiative in the German Market.

He, however, said India would have to overcome language barrier to tap the European markets especially Germany.

"Germany for India is the second largest IT destination after the UK in Europe. Learning of German language will help in removing some of the existing barriers to enhance IT trade between the two countries," he said.

"India's export of IT services was $1.6 billion to the EU as a whole and $650 million to Germany in the last fiscal," Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council chairman P K Sandell said.

Sandell said India is aiming to achieve a 25 per cent growth in IT exports to Germany alone in 2004-05.

"Over the past years, there have been investment and re-investment of around Rs 8000 crore (Rs 80 billion) in India by German companies. We expect this to improve considerably this year," Minister in the Germany Embassy Julius Georg Luy said.