United Nations, Feb 3 (IANS): India's exports and imports of information and communications technology (ICT) experienced a rapid rise in 2009 as Asia accounted for two third of global ICT exports, according to a UN agency.

While India's ICT exports increased by a dramatic 244 percent, a rapid increase in imports too moved it from 28th to 17th in the global ranking of importers, according to the data compiled by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The agency also noted that more than a third of the world's ICT exports now originate from mainland China and its special administrative region of Hong Kong.

In the wake of the global financial crisis, mainland China exported ICT goods valued at $356 billion in 2009, followed by Hong Kong ($142 billion) and the US ($113 billion), UNCTAD said.

Reliance on exports of ICT products is most pronounced in Hong Kong, where the goods represent more than 43 percent of all merchandise exports, it said.

Other economies in which ICT goods make up 30 percent or more of exports include mainland China, Singapore and the Philippines.

The data shows that while ICT exports from most major exporters declined in 2009 as a result of the financial crisis, the fall was particularly pronounced among several European countries.

ICT exports dropped by more than half in Portugal and Finland, by 36 percent in Ireland, and by more than 20 percent in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, and Sweden. Japan and the US also saw sharp declines.

The US tops the list of ICT importers, followed by China and Hong Kong. Among major importers, declines of more than 35 percent were registered by Finland, Ireland, Portugal, Russia and Spain in 2009.

Economies for which ICT goods represent large shares of their imports are mainly in East and Southeast Asia. A few Latin American countries also report a high reliance on ICT goods imports, including Costa Rica (17 percent), Mexico (20 percent) and Paraguay (26 percent).