NEW DELHI: The IT industry would return to growth with 2010 IT spending to total $3.3 trillion, a 3.3 percent increase from 2009, according to Gartner Inc.

The IT industry is exiting its worst year ever, as worldwide IT spending is on pace to decline 5.2 per cent, said a press release. The report also mentioned that the worldwide enterprise IT spending would struggle more with IT spending dropping 6.9 per cent. The IT industry would return to growth with 2010 IT spending forecast to total $3.3 trillion, a 3.3 per cent increase from 2009.

Gartner provided the latest outlook for the IT industry during Gartner Symposium/ITxpo. While IT spending will increase next year, Gartner cautioned IT leaders to be overly optimistic.

“While the IT industry will return to growth in 2010, the market will not recover to 2008 revenue levels before 2012,” said Peter Sondergaard, Senior VP and Global Head, Gartner.

He added that 2010 is about balancing the focus on cost, risk, and growth. For more than 50 percent of CIOs, the IT budget will be zero percent or less in growth terms. It will only slowly improve in 2011.

The computing hardware market has struggled more than other segments with worldwide hardware spending forecast to total $317 billion in 2009, a 16.5 percent decline. In 2010, spending on hardware spending will be flat.

Worldwide telecom spending is on pace to decline four per cent in 2009 with revenue of nearly $1.9 trillion. In 2010, telecom spending is forecast to grow 3.2 percent.

Worldwide IT services spending is expected to total $781 billion in 2009, and it is forecast to grow 4.5 percent in 2010. Worldwide software spending is forecast to decline 2.1 per cent in 2009, and the segment is projected to grow 4.8 per cent in 2010.