IT sector may grow 23 % in 1999-2000: IDC

BANGALORE: The information technology (IT) industry in India is set to witness a 23 per cent growth in 1999-2000 over the previous year, according to a study.

The large-scale end-user study on IT potential at the city level titled "Map-IT", carried out by International Data Corporation (IDC) India, says the size of the domestic IT market is likely to be Rs 15,398 crore in 1999-2000, of which home will account for 9 per cent. Homes and home offices and small and medium establishments emerge as the most potential segments with a likely growth of 64 per cent and 56 per cent, respectively.

This growth is more from the smaller towns with the larger ones reaching a considerable level of PC ownership in these segments. The homes and home offices segment in cities apart from the big eight metros is likely to witness a higher growth rate than the national average of 23 per cent, the study reveals. Homes and home offices in the North, and small and medium establishments in South are the hottest segments and they are poised to witness the maximum growth of 105 per cent and 65 per cent respectively.

Among the first 25 big cities, those in nine to 16 slots are likely to witness maximum growth of 33 per cent, whereas the last nine cities in the list would have a growth of 28 per cent. The study covers 23 cities spread across the country, plus Bhubaneshwar and

Chandigarh.

Cities in the south are to witness maximum growth of 26 per cent, while cities like Coimbatore (45 per cent) and Cochin (51 per cent) emerge as high-growth cities with a major chunk of the same coming from homes and home offices and small and medium establishments.

Baroda leads in PC penetration amongst homes and home offices at 16.4 per cent, followed by Pune at 15.8 per cent and Bangalore at 15.3 per cent. Ludhiana at 441 per cent and Jaipur (309 per cent are to witness a phenomenal growth in PC adoption in the homes and home offices segment followed by Kanpur, Indore, Surat and Patna, the IDC survey shows.