Date: August 31, 2021
Centre eyes $400 billion IT exports by March 2022
Centre will focus on areas of high-tech, including artificial intelligence, blockchain, cybersecurity and hyper-scale computing, says Union minister of state for IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
The IT sector is betting big on recovery from the economic downturn following the second Covid-19 wave hitting hard the hopes of a revival. In line with the trend, Union minister of state for electronics and information technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar has set his eyes on an ambitious IT export target of $400 billion by March 2022.
“The IT industry is one of the important sectors for exports in India, and we have set a target of achieving $400 billion exports by March 2022. We are working closely with the IT industry leaders to ramp up exports,” Chandrasekhar told ETGovernment.
According to the industry body Nasscom report, the Indian IT-ITeS sector is expected to grow by 2.3% to $194 billion in the 2020-21 financial year. The trade body’s strategic review for the year showed that IT exports might swell to $150 billion, a 1.9% growth over the previous year.
The global research firm Gartner has estimated IT spending in India to grow at 8% to $92.7 billion in 2021. “The growth at 8% is a shade less than the world average of 8.6%,” Gartner said, adding that global spending on information technology is estimated to come at $4.2 trillion.
In India, the overall IT spending growth slowed down to 1.5% to $85.865 billion in 2020, probably hit by the pandemic.
This trend is also reflected in the IT companies’ performance attached to the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) — they have registered exports to the tune of ₹1.20 lakh crore in the first quarter ended June 30, 2021, marginally lower than ₹1.27 lakh crore recorded in the same quarter last year.
“Despite the unprecedented pandemic, the Indian IT industry has shown remarkable resilience,” said STPI DG Omkar Rai, adding that focus on next-generation technologies and the digitisation by MSMEs (micro, small and medium) will drive the growth for the industry.
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