IT industry scores historic growth: DQ Survey

BANGALORE: In the midst of ruins the Indian IT industry stands tall.
According to Dataquest Top 20 survey, an annual survey of the Industry by
Dataquest, the industry has grown 50.1 per cent in 2000-01 and the revenues has
soared to nearly Rs 50,000 crore. The survey has also rated HCL as the top
Infotech group in India. While the exports grew over 64 per cent, the domestic
market registered 37 per cent growth.

The survey reveals total revenues for the fiscal year as Rs 49,577 crore,
against Rs 33,052 crore in the previous year. Exports led from the front again
with revenues of Rs 26,316 crore, while the domestic market notched up Rs 23,361
crore in revenues.

The HCL Group has topped the charts for the second year running, according to
the report. The group companies (including HCL Tech, HCL Infosystems, NIIT, HCL
Perot, and subsidiaries HCL Infinet and HCL Comnet) added up to Rs 4,413 crore,
growing 51 per cent from the previous year’s Rs 2,922 crore. Following HCL to
make up the DQ Top 5 Giants club were the Tatas (Rs 4,032 crore), Wipro (Rs
3,007 crore), Compaq India (Rs 1,945 crore, including Digital India) and Infosys
Technologies (Rs 1,901 crore).

"This has been a great performance by the Indian IT industry in trying
times," Dataquest group chief editor Prasanto K Roy said. "This
is the first time that exports have outpaced the domestic market, but what’s
more significant is the great show by domestic vendors amidst a slowdown."
Server sales led the growth chart segment-wise, with an increase of 76 per cent
and hardware exports crossed the Rs 1,000-crore mark for the first time, Dataquest
reported.

The star performers among the DQ Top 5 groups were Infosys and Compaq.
Infosys grew at more than double the industry average, at nearly 115 per cent,
to enter the Top 5 for the first time. Compaq India displaced HCL Insys
from the top PCs slot, no mean achievement. The company did well in the storage
space as well, with its revenues here growing by 40 per cent. While Compaq and
Infosys were the new faces among the Giants,it was at the cost of
multinationals Hewlett Packard and IBM. "Given that Infosys is the only
single and software-only company among the five giants," Roy added,
"while all the others are groups having diverse interests–it is a really
a credible showing by Infy."

It was banks, financial institutions and insurance companies that were the
demand-drivers in the domestic sector, the DQ report said. "Unprecedented
server sales have catapulted the once low-lying segment to star-performer
status. What a performance–a growth of 76 per cent in value terms, compared to
a mere seven per cent in the previous fiscal. And Sun Micro has had the picnic
of its life," the report added.

On the impact of the slowdown, the survey revealed that while its punch had
India reeling for a bit, it survived the rollover effect far better than any
other country in the region (India was the only APAC country to report
double-digit PC sales growth). "Indian enterprises stuck to their
automation plans and implementation of e-business solutions. The government
juggernaut also rolled on, and the computerization program at PSUs and banks
dished out massive orders. Network integrators were also part of the
festivities," DQ reported.

However, while the numbers were enviable, 2000-01 was a year that ended in
fear, DQ said. "As the US economy slowed and benchings began, as
software professionals started returning home, as the slowdown hit Indian firms,
as dot-coms downed shutters, as IT companies started sackings, as appointment
letters weren’t honored, as salary hikes were frozen, as cost-cutting binges
began… it was a long fear-list," the report said.