Nasscom lowers growth outlook for FY17

Image: Dinesh krishnan

IT industry trade body Nasscom on Thursday projected a 10-12 percent growth for the Indian software services industry for the fiscal year 2017, lagging the 12-14 percent growth forecast it had made for the current fiscal (FY16).

Nasscom pointed out that for FY16, the industry’s export revenue grew by 12.3 percent to reach $108 billion, touching the lower end of its earlier revenue projection. During the same period, domestic revenue grew by 10 percent.

According to Nasscom, the Indian IT-BPO industry is expected to reach $143 billion in revenue (which includes exports and domestic business) by March 31. The latest revenue figures show that the sector has doubled its revenue over the last six years and crossed the $100 billion milestone in export revenues. In addition, ecommerce contributed $17 billion in revenue, boosting digital consumption.  

“Amidst a volatile global economic environment, the industry has been able to set new benchmarks and sustain its double-digit growth. Our industry is going bimodal in today’s diverse landscape, gaining share in both traditional and digital markets. Startups, ecommerce are the new champions of the industry and I expect these segments to increase their contribution to industry growth in the years to come,” said BVR Mohan Reddy, chairman, Nasscom.

The software services export revenue is expected to grow by 10-12 percent in FY17, touching revenue of $119-121 billion, Nasscom said in a statement, adding that the IT-BPO industry added 2 lakh employees during the current fiscal, touching a total employee base of 3.7 million.

R Chandrashekhar, president, Nasscom, said: “Going forward, revenue growth alone may not be an adequate indicator of the growing capability and capacity of India’s technology industry and factors such as investment, valuations, digital solutions portfolio, impact, etc would also need to be considered in assessing the industry performance and contribution to the economy."