Wednesday, Feb 12, 2003
Wednesday, Feb 12, 2003 |
| Business | ||
|
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Business
By Our Staff Correspondent
Speaking about the performance of the industry, at the launch of Nasscom 2003, Arun Kumar, Chairman, Nasscom, said, "Despite a slowdown in IT spending globally, increased interest by customers and aggressive foray by Indian vendors led to larger offshoring contracts to India. This led to a growth of 20 per cent in IT services and a growth of 61 per cent in ITES-BPO (IT enabled services-pusiness process outsourcing) segment in April-December 2002. This reflects the continued growth that the sector is able to maintain despite a much larger base". Further, Mr. Kumar said software and services exports were also increasing their contribution to overall exports from the country. Software exports accounted for 4.9 per cent of India's export revenues in 1997 and is expected to increase to 20.4 per cent in 2002-03. The survey reveals that the markets that the Indian IT services and ITES-BPO segment are targeting is expanding. In the IT services arena, Indian vendors are getting into new service lines such as IT and network consulting, packaged software installation and support and systems integration. In the ITES-BPO segment, apart from consolidating their presence in traditional areas such as customer care, finance and HR, Indian vendors are moving up the value chain by addressing segments such as engineering design, animation and R&D services. The ITES-BPO segment has increased from Rs. 7,100 crores to Rs. 11,700 crores. The Nasscom survey indicates that BFSI vertical continues to be the biggest vertical with a share of 36 per cent during April-December 2002, of software and service exports. The manufacturing vertical is expected to increase its share to 14 per cent in 2002-03. Apart from growth in traditional services, new verticals such as healthcare, retail and utilities in the IT services sectors will lead future growth in exports. The retail sector at present has a share of 4 per cent in 2001-02 and is expected to increase to 5 per cent in 2002-03, utilities which has a share of 2 per cent in 2001-02, is expected to grow to 3 per cent in 2002-03 and healthcare, which has a share of 3 per cent in 2001-02, is estimated to grow to 5 per cent in 2002-03. Kiran Karnik, President, Nasscom, said, "The Indian software and service industry has once again demonstrated its resilience through outstanding performance in the context of global economic woes. The industry did face pressure on pricing in the first half of the financial year, but this is stabilising now. There has been good growth in volumes but profitability has been affected due to increased investment by Indian vendors in sales and marketing. While this may affect the bottomlines in the short-term, it would help in strengthening the long term prospects of the company". Further, he said, "If the appreciation in the rupee continues in the next quarter, it might lead to growth rate in rupee terms coming under pressure. Though, we are confident of achieving strong stable growth in volumes in the coming quarters also". Mr. Karnik said while in the last year, the industry grew at 29 per cent, the guidance for the current full year is around 28-30 per cent. "This growth is unlike anywhere else in the world. In the last two quarters, the rupee has appreciated and the impact has been 2-3 per cent. In the fourth quarter, the challenge is to overcome the 2-3 per cent appreciation". India's software exports have continued to grow towards the high-value offshore development model. Onsite services, which contributed Rs. 16,500 crores to India's export revenue during 2001-02, is expected to reach Rs. 18,500 crores in 2002-03. Off-shore activity meanwhile, notched up a higher growth rate during the same period; with contribution growing from Rs. 18,500 crores in 2001-02 and expected to reach Rs. 27,500 crores in 2002-03. On the smaller players in the software exports industry, Mr. Karnik said, "They have to get into niche products. There has to be a flight to scale rather than standardised products where others are already present. Now is a difficult time for companies without any specialisation. A lot of venture capital funds are going to companies who are doing product development. Smaller companies should foster relationships with larger companies".
Printer friendly
page
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | Home |
Copyright © 2003, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|
