IT industry crosses Rs 1,64,000 crores

New Delhi, Aug 7: While the Indian IT sector registered a growth of 33 per cent in 2005-06 with a revenue of Rs 1,64,000 crore, the IT exports are expected to scale newer heights in the future as well with a growing number of Indian IT firms bagging high value long term service contracts.

Outsourcing which was until now limited to foreign firms shifting their back-end operations to India, is now also seeing the entry of domestic players in the arena. That the domestic market grew by over 20 per cent in 2005-06 is a clear indicator of the change in the mindset of the Indian enterprises, traditionally apprehensive about outsourcing, a study said today.

Experts predict that not only will this trend pick up pace in the near future but is also expected to benefit the tier-2 and 3 players, to whom a lot of work would be outsourced, the study conducted by Dataquest said.

Followed by the outsourcing boom was the IT manufacturing sector, which benefited from the government's efforts to bring India on the manufacturing. Announcements made by companies like AMD-Sem India and Dell to set up shop here is likely to lead to a big ancillary eco-system. The sector also saw several joint ventures between MNC's and Indian software houses for joint R and D partnerships.

In the imaging and printing industry, the MFDs continued to rule the roost in 2005-06 and their rapid growth indicates the burgeoning market and the impact it had on imaging devices like scanners.

The recruitment drive was in full swing all through the year as 7,41,000 people joined the industry, an overall growth of over 16 per cent.

Interestingly, most of the IT companies including TCS and Infosys hired freshers for various positions. While TCS made 13,776 offers to freshers which was over 65 per cent of the net recruitments, Infosys led the pack as 75 per cent of its new recruits were freshers.

The training market scenario which was bleak for three years, saw a turnaround in 2005-06 as the sector recorded a 14 per cent growth as the training market was pegged at Rs 1,453 crore.

UNI