IT INDUSTRY TO CONSTITUTE 8 PERCENT OF INDIAN ECONOMY IN 8 YEARS

New Delhi
The Economic Times

Continuing its growth momentum, the Indian IT industry is projected to constitute over eight percent of the economy and employ the second largest number of professionals after the United States in the next eight years, says a study.

According to research and analytics firm Evalueserve, the booming IT industry is expected to account for 8.05 percent of the country's GDP by 2015-16, compared to 2.86 percent in 2007-08.

During the same period, the employee strength would be surging to 37.5 lakh, making India the place with the second largest number of IT professionals after the United States.

In 2007-08, the number of such people was at 13.16 lakh. "The industry is likely to employ 37,50,000 professionals and record USD 193.1 billion in revenue by 2015-16. Since India's GDP is growing annually at 8.5 percent in real terms and 14 percent in nominal terms, this GDP is likely to be USD 2,400 billion by 2015-16, and hence the IT industry is likely to constitute 8.05 percent of the total GDP," the study noted.

In the next eight years, the US is projected to employ about 1.25 to 1.33 times more IT professionals than those in India.

Further, in terms of revenues, the IT industry in the US is expected to generate USD 810 billion which would be about five times more than projected for the sector in India, the study added.