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| Indian IT's Boom Times |
25 Jun 2007 |
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IT software and services sector firms continue on their juggernaut roll, absolutely very much on track to meet the $60-billion exports target by the year 2010. According to Kiran Karnik, NASSCOM President, even $75-billion may not be too much to ask for, if the current growth rate continues.
Despite, an appreciating rupee, rising attrition and wages and fewer billing days, end-December 2006 quarterly results bear out this optimism and have posted a good show. Against this backdrop, delegations from Canada, Taiwan, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Wales, Australia and Malaysia are to converge on a three-day 15th Annual 'NASSCOM India Leadership Forum' on 7th February 2007 to focus on globalisation, innovation and leadership.
Over 120-speakers and 1,300 delegates are expected to attend the event, and there will be a special session by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a forum that will reflect on the globalisation of the domestic IT-BPO industry, with a strong focus on areas where the world can work in partnership with India.
It is the global delivery models (GDM) and global delivery centres (GDCs) that are working for all IT services firms, whether large or small and that are helping them de-risk their business. The global imprint of Indian IT firms is increasing, as India's major Goliaths i.e. Wipro, or mid-caps like 3i Infotech, Subex Azure, i-flex, Four Soft or Tech Mahindra enlarge their geographic base, acquiring additional firms in their domain areas, that has helped them post larger client wins. For instance, this quarter, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, TCS and Infosys all struck multi-million dollar deals and negotiated new contracts at billing rates that have increased 3-5% and more.
Having established themselves in the world of off-shoring / outsourcing, not even US Democrat pressure to restrict or ban outsourcing is expected to dent the top line or bottom line of the Indian IT sector. Those outsourcing to India will be driven by business concerns and cost-arbitrage, their top priority and not by the rantings and the ravings of a political candidate trying grab the vote bank.
As a result of these conducive conditions, Indian IT software exports business is well on course to be able to crow about achieving its ambitious target of $60-billion by 2010, NASSCOM's oft-repeated statement. As well, the Indian domestic IT market is also expected to exceed $15.9 billion in fiscal 2006-07, recording a 21% growth.
Software and services (IT-BPO) exports are expected to exceed $31 billion in 2006-07, a 32.6% growth over last year's figure of $23.6-billion. However, attrition continues to remain a sore point, and the dearth of IT engineers has forced the Indian and technology companies to recruit around 40,000-50,000 non-IT professionals and science graduates. Already, IT majors like Infosys Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tech Mahindra, GTL and Wipro Technologies are innovating by recruiting non-IT personnel for IT jobs and, whom they will be training to meet the shortfall.
While, India will continue to lead the supplier market showing a strong growth in Europe after its amazing success in US, countries like Brazil and Russia are emerging as strong contenders. However, NASSCOM is expected to shed further light on future strategies in this direction. |
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