China's software, IT sector growth slows

BEIJING -- Both revenue and profit of China's software and information technology sector slowed in the first 11 months of this year, new data showed Sunday.

The sector generated around 3.3 trillion yuan ($539 billion) in revenue in the first 11 months of, up 20.1 percent from a year earlier and surpassing the total revenue for the full year of 2013, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in a statement.

Combined profits of the sector jumped 23.7 percent to $384.1 billion during the same period, down by 1.9 percentage points from the same period of last year.

Employees in the sector rose 9.7 percent to more than 4.8 million people, 3.9 percentage points slower than the increase for the same period of last year, the MIIT said.

Software export rose by 14.3 percent year on year to $43.8 billion, down from 15 percent reported in the January-October period.