India IT spending to reach $71.5 billion in 2013

Information Technology spending in India is projected to total $71.5 billion in 2013, a 7.7 per cent increase from the $66.4 billion forecasted for 2012.

The telecommunications market is the largest IT segment in India with spending for IT forecast to reach $47.8 billion in 2013, followed by the IT services market with spending of $10.3 billion, according to a study by research and analyst firm Gartner.

''India like other emerging markets continues exercising strong momentum despite inflationary pressures and appreciation of local currencies, which are expected in rising economies,'' Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president and global head of research at Gartner said.

The telecommunications market is the largest IT segment in India with IT spending forecast to reach $47.8 billion in 2013, followed by the IT services market with spending of $10.3 billion.

The computing hardware market in India is projected to reach $9.5 billion in 2013 and software spending will total nearly $4.0 billion. Software will record the strongest revenue growth at 15 per cent, IT services will grow at 12 per cent. The telecom segment, which accounts for 67 per cent of the Indian information and communications technology market, is set to grow at 7 per cent revenue growth in 2013.

''Businesses are increasingly looking to IT to help support the challenges of enhancing customer support, supply chain management, optimising business processes or helping drive innovation in the business,'' Sondergaard said.

''These demands are being placed on IT in an environment in which the infrastructure (hardware and software) foundation of IT within many enterprises may not be entirely in place. IT is also in transition from being viewed as a back-office support function to a frontline business-focused function,'' he added.

''The hardware segment will account for 14.1 per cent of all IT spending in India by 2016, driven by positive contributions from the storage and the client computing segment,'' said Partha Iyengar, head of research – India, at Gartner. ''Mobile phones will continue to be the fastest growing space within the Indian IT market. During the same time period, this segment will also account for nearly 42 per cent of all telecommunications revenue in India, and it will also account for nearly 26 per cent of the overall IT spending.''

While IT is the primary driver of business growth, concerns around the economic slowdown are gathering strength and are a matter of concern.

India IT End-User Spending Forecast,  2012-2016 (US$ Billions)