Indian IT-BPM industry clocks growth rate of 8.6 percent in FY2017: NASSCOM

In a year of moderate global growth, the Indian IT-BPM (Information Technology-Business Process Management) industry is projected to grow at a rate of 8.6% (in constant currency) to reach over $155 billion by end of FY17. The projection was made by the software industry body NASSCOM, at start of the 25th edition of the annual NASSCOM India Leadership Forum. CP Gurnani, Chairman, NASSCOM and MD & CEO, Tech Mahindra; Raman Roy, Vice Chairman, NASSCOM and R Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM, were present at this session.

The IT-BPM exports from India is expected to reach $118 billion and the domestic IT-BPM market is expected to grow by 12 percent year-on-year to reach Rs 2,545 billion. Currently, the industry employs 3.86 million people, and a growth of 5 percent – an addition of 1.7 lakh people over FY16 – is expected.

“The digital tsunami is reshaping our industry. The priority is to reimagine businesses and unlock new opportunities. The Indian IT-BPM Sector is emerging as a digital solutions partner for global corporations and we are excited to work across stakeholders – customers, start-ups, academia and others to build this exciting future,” Gurnani said.

While the IT-BPM industry is developing its digital capabilities and reorganising itself to become a digital technology industry, it is also facing continuous technology disruptions, political upheavals, and slowdown in IT-BPM global spending. In view of this, the industry body cut its growth outlook to 8-10% (constant currency) for the current fiscal. Also, in a very long time, NASSCOM has not given a growth projection for the next financial year.

Chandrashekhar said that they have just reviewed the growth outlook in November and not much has happened since then. “While there are some uncertainties in the short term, the initial data from global analysts on tech spending in 2018 is promising, We are initiating deeper interactions with all stakeholders – global customers and industry providers – to get a more reliable and clear perspective on the projections for FY2018 and will give the guidance in the next quarter.”

The US and APAC are the fastest growing markets for IT-BPM, and are growing at 7.8 percent, with gradual stabilisation of growth in the European market. Retail, healthcare and travel & transportation have been the key verticals for the Indian IT-BPM industry, growing at the rate of 8 percent.

The trio opined that with companies actively exploring new engagement models, there is a growing need for the companies to restructure and focus on capacity development to address the digital opportunities.