While the Covid-induced year 2020 forced enterprises to focus on survival and use their resources optimally to maintain business continuity, the industry is expected to invest more in 2021 in the areas of technology that help them build resilience

The Covid-hit year 2020 brought the entire world including India to a standstill and -business across sectors were almost paused for indefinite. The Indian IT & ITES sector did see unexpected investments across enterprise verticals. When all other industries were forced to take a pause, the IT industry made them going. The IT industry perhaps was only the second industry after healthcare that saw developments. This industry helped all other industries to be in motion and maintain business continuity. Significant adoption were seen in the areas of cloud, collaboration technologies and digitalization of education, sports and finance. Besides domestic businesses, Indian IT industry also saw significant growth in their export businesses.
 

Market Size
The IT industry accounted for 8% of India’s GDP in 2020. Exports from the Indian IT industry are expected to increase by 1.9% to reach US$ 150 billion in FY21. In 2020, the IT industry recorded 138,000 new hires. According to STPI (Software Technology Park of India), the software exports by its registered units increased by 7% YoY to reach Rs. 5 lakh crore (US$ 67.40 billion) in FY21 from Rs. 4.66 lakh crore (US$ 62.82 billion) in FY20, driven by rapid digitization and the IT industry’s timely transition to remote working environments that helped to keep up the industry’s growth amid coronavirus pandemics.

The IT & BPM industry’s revenue is estimated at ~US$ 194 billion in FY21, an increase of 2.3% YoY. The domestic revenue of the IT industry is estimated at US$ 45 billion and export revenue is estimated at US$ 150 billion in FY21. According to Gartner estimates, IT spending in India is estimated to reach US$ 93 billion in 2021 (7.3% YoY growth) and further increase to US$ 98.5 billion in 2022.

The global sourcing market in India continues to grow at a higher pace compared to the IT-BPM industry. India is the leading sourcing destination across the world, accounting for approximately 55% market share of the US$ 200-250 billion global services sourcing business in 2019-20.

Indian software product industry is expected to reach US$ 100 billion by 2025. Indian companies are focusing to invest internationally to expand global footprint and enhance their global delivery centres. In line with this, in February 2021, Tata Consultancy Services announced to recruit ~1,500 technology employees across the UK over the next year. The development would build capabilities for TCS to deliver efficiently to the UK customers.

The data annotation market in India stood at ~ US$ 250 million in FY20, of which the US market contributed ~ 60% to the overall value. The market is expected to reach ~ US$ 7 billion by 2030 due to accelerated domestic demand for AI.

Investments/ Developments
Indian IT’s core competencies and strengths have attracted significant investment from major countries. The computer software and hardware sector in India attracted cumulative foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows worth US$ 69.29 billion between April 2000 and September 2020. The sector ranked 2nd in FDI inflows as per the data released by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). In FY21, computer software and hardware topped FDI investments, accounting for 44% share of the total FDI inflows of US$ 81.72 billion.

In 2020, PE investments in the sector stood at US$ 7.5 billion. IT & BPM led the venture capital (VC) investment with 380 deals in in 2020, contributing 71% to the total deal count. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the demand for third-party data centre services in India.
The Government of India has extended tax holidays to the IT sector for Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and Special Economic Zones (SEZs). As of February 2020, there were 421 approved SEZs across the country, with 276 of them from IT & BPM and 145 as exporting SEZs.

Leading Indian IT firms like Infosys, Wipro, TCS and Tech Mahindra are diversifying their offerings and showcasing leading ideas in blockchain and artificial intelligence to clients using innovation hubs and research and development centres to create differentiated offerings.
Some of the major developments in the Indian IT and ITeS sector are as follows:
•    In May 2021, Infosys entered a partnership with Majesco, a New Jersey-based cloud insurance software solutions provider, to enable insurance companies to aid in digital adoption and transformation across the insurance value chain. 
•    In May 2021, HCL Technologies (HCL) announced a multi-year contract with Hitachi ABB Power Grids to build a new greenfield digital foundation as part of a global transformation programme. Through this engagement, HCL will help Hitachi ABB Power Grids establish a new, efficient and modern independent IT organisation.
•    In May 2021, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) joined forces with VIAVI Solutions, a network test, measurement and assurance solutions company, to launch new test solutions that address the industry’s need for comprehensive testing of next-generation disaggregated 5G radio access network (RAN) products.
•    In May 2021, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) partnered with LACChain, an initiative led by IDB Lab, the innovation laboratory of the Inter-American Development Bank Group, to boost adoption of a blockchain ecosystem across Latin America and the Caribbean.
•    In May 2021, IBM collaborated with 11 top-tier academic institutions, including IIT Kharagpur and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, to enable ‘over-the-cloud’ access to its quantum systems to boost advanced training and research in the area of quantum computing.
•    In May 2021, Infosys announced a definitive agreement to acquire GuideVision, a ServiceNow Elite Partner in Europe.

Government Initiatives
Some of the major initiatives taken by the Government to promote IT and ITeS sector in India are as follows:
•    In May 2021, MyGov, the citizen engagement platform of the Government of India, in partnership with the Department of Higher Education launched an innovation challenge to create an Indian language learning app.
•    In order to establish an enabling environment for the IT industry, in April 2021, the Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) launched three innovatice technologies Automatic Parallelizing Compiler (CAPC), Cyber Security Operation Centre (CSoC) as a Service, and C-DAC’s indigenous High-performance Computing software solutions—Parallel Development Environment (ParaDE).
•    In Budget 2021, the government has allocated Rs. 53,108 crore (US$ 7.31 billion) to the IT and telecom sector.
•    Department of Telecom, Government of India and Ministry of Communications, Government of Japan signed a MoU to enhance cooperation in areas of 5G technologies, telecom security and submarine optical fibre cable system.
•    In 2020, the government released “Simplified Other Service Provider” (OSP) guidelines to improve the ease of doing business in the IT Industry, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and IT-enabled Services.

Road Ahead
India is the topmost offshoring destination for IT companies across the world. Having proven its capabilities in delivering both on-shore and off-shore services to global clients, emerging technologies now offer an entire new gamut of opportunities for top IT firms in India. The industry is expected to grow to US$ 350 billion by 2025 and BPM is expected to account for US$ 50 55 billion of the total revenue.

India is the world’s largest sourcing destination with largest qualified talent pool of technical graduates in the world. 

A big push towards cloud services has boosted hyper-scale data centre investments, with global investments estimated to exceed ~US$ 200 billion annually by 2025. India is expected to gain a significant share in the global market, with the country’s investment expected to hit ~US$ 5 billion annually by 2025.

In Budget 2021, the government has allocated Rs. 53,108 crore (US$ 7.31 billion) to the IT and telecom sector.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is expected to boost India’s annual growth rate by 1.3% by 2035, as per NITI Aayog. A substantial increase in AI by Indian firms can result in a 2.5% increase in India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the immediate term. In September 2020, NASSCOM FutureSkills and Microsoft collaborated to launch a nationwide AI skilling initiative to train one million students in AI technology by 2021.

The computer software and hardware sector in India attracted cumulative foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows worth US$ 69.29 billion between April 2000 and December 2020. The sector ranked 2nd in FDI inflows as per the data released by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).