India set to become $8.1-B IT market by 2011: Study

NEW DELHI, INDIA : India would remain the fastest-growing IT services country in Asia-Pacific till 2011 and become an $8.1-billion market by then, according to a report by Springboard Research. China will hold on to its position as the largest market in the region at $15.6-billion, the report adds. 

Despite its lead over India, China will not be a major competitor for offshore service delivery, especially for English language requirements as skill levels, quality, culture and governance are all more suited to India, the study added. It also predicted that challenges in accessing and retaining IT skills will accelerate the shift to external services providers, as enterprises will struggle to retain in-house key individuals and skill sets. 

The report says that India and China IT services markets will be $4.86-billion and $10.9-billion, respectively, in 2008. 

By 2011, the Indian market will be just behind Asean and Korea in size, and is likely to overtake them by 2012, the report said. "In some respects, this is a surprise, and some expected that the Indian market would grow even more rapidly. India is still fragmented and a long way from market maturity. Most local services providers, aside from the worthy headline grabbers such as Tata, IBM and Wipro, operate from a city or state with a narrow capability range," it added. 

The IT services market in Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) will grow from $37.5-billion in 2007 to $55.9-billion in 2011. "The Asia Pacific IT services market is arguably the global leader in terms of growth, supplemented with a mix of mature and emerging markets," said Springboard Research vice-president of services research Phil Hassey.

Source: Agencies