IT spending in India will reach $72.4bn in 2017: Gartner

Driven by growth in software and IT services revenue, IT spending in India is forecasted to reach $72.4 billion in 2017, up 6.9 percent from 2016 estimated spending of $67.7 billion, according to technology research firm Gartner.

In the current year, Gartner said IT spending will have contracted 1.6 percent to $67.7 billion. The research firm had expected India IT spending to touch $72.3 billion this year, a target that the sector missed. Worldwide IT spend this year contracted 0.3 percent.

Analysts said the key vertical segments driving IT spending growth include the communications, media, and services, banking and securities, manufacturing and utility markets.

’Make in India' is set to boost the manufacturing sector, as well as make it easier to attract investment, and ‘Digital India’ is focused on creating digital infrastructure, digital delivery of services and increased digital literacy,” said Partha Iyengar, Gartner Fellow and head of research at Gartner India.

“Software and IT services spending are projected to have the highest growth rates as companies work towards creating digital applications on which enterprise organizations' digital business models are being built. Some leading edge organizations are already starting to extend that journey to the beginnings of algorithmic business,” he added.

According to the research report, software spending is projected to grow 7.3 percent in 2016, and it will grow another 12.8 percent in 2017 to total $5 billion. IT services spending is on pace to grow 8.5 percent in 2016 to reach $11 billion and increase 13.5 percent in 2017 to reach $12.5 billion.

Gartner said CIOs will participate in the building of a new digital platform with intelligence at the center. That platform will enable ecosystems, connecting businesses and collapsing industries. Gartner analysts said it will change society itself, and the way people live.

The new digital platform will consist of five domains - traditional IT systems, customer experience, the internet of things, an ecosystem foundation and an intelligence system that will tie all of this together.

“Your new digital platform will allow you to participate in the evolving world of business, government, and consumer ecosystems. Because ecosystems are the next evolution for digital. It’s how you compete at scale,” Peter Sondergaard, global head of research at Gartner, said.