India IT spending to grow 10% to $73.3 billion in 2015: Gartner

New Delhi: Buoyed by increased spending oncloud, mobile, social and Big Data technologies, IT spending in India is expected to grow 9.4 per cent to touch USD 73.3 billion in 2015, according to research firm Gartner. While India will be the third largest IT market within the Asia Pacific region by 2016-end, strong growth is expected to propel India to the second spot by the end of 2018. IT spending in India is expected to be about USD 67.1 billion (forecast) for 2014.

"While the global IT services market is growing at about 1 per cent, the market in India is quite robust and is expected to grow at about 10 per cent," Gartner Senior Vice President and Global Head (Research) Peter Sondergaard. This is primarily on the back of strong growth within the IT services and software, which will grow 10.5 per cent and 9.6 per cent, he added. IT services is forecast to record the strongest revenue growth at 15.7 per cent in 2015, software at 14 per cent, devices at 12.6 per cent and telecommunication services segment at 4.2 per cent.

In 2014, mobile devices is forecast to grow at 13.5 per cent, dislodging mobile voice services as the largest segment within the overall IT market in India. Mobile data services is expected to be the fastest growing segment in India, growing 18.2 per cent in 2014. Telecommunication services, that is expected to account for 41.4 per cent of overall IT spend, is forecast to decline 0.7 per cent in 2014.

Talking about the nexus of forces - social, mobile, cloud and information, he said new business models are emerging with the merger of virtual and physical worlds. "The impact that the digital business economy is having on the IT industry is dramatic. It is changing how processes and industries work through the Internet of Things," he added. This is also resulting in a shift of demand and control away from IT and toward digital business units closer to the customer.

"Thirty-eight per cent of the total IT spend is outside of IT already, with a disproportionate amount in digital. By 2017, it will be over 50 per cent," Sondergaard said. Business units are acting as technology startups, he added. Gartner estimates that in 50 per cent of all technology sales, people are actively selling direct to business units, not IT departments.