They are the China Putian Group, a major manufacturer of telecommunication equipment, and the Haier Group, China's leading electric appliances manufacturer.

　　Sales from four other enterprises topped 20 billion yuan in 2001, said Wu Jichuan, minister of Information Industry, at a national conference which opened Monday in Shanghai, China's leading information center.

　　Sales from China's top 100 IT enterprises made up 63 percent of all sales in the sector and pre-tax profits accounted for 65 percent of the total.

　　Wu called for a business merger and regrouping of assets in the IT sector to create a number of businesses which have large marketshares and are competitive worldwide.

　　China plans to further develop nine businesses which each have an annual sales value of more than 20 billion yuan this year.