It was a somber revelation when Pramod Bhasin, Chairman, Nasscom remarked, “We are undergoing the worst recession witnessed not in a decade but since the days of the Great Depression. Notwithstanding this, Indian IT industry takes the credit for maximum number of urban jobs in the last decade”. He warned, how the Indian IT export is forecast to plummet to an all time low of 7% by the end of 2010, down from the double digit growth of 33% witnessed before the recession set in. However, the pessimism on the dismal forecast announced at the release of the Indian IT exports and growth for the FY2008-09, is now a thing of the past. Quite so. As against the projected odds, Indian IT majors such as Infosys Technologies were able to log impressive growth and decent profits against the recession headwinds that is gradually showing the signs of abatement. With considerable presence of the Indian IT industry in the US and European markets, a recent report by Forrester predicts that IT recovery will begin from the Q4 of 2009. Not surprisingly, with appreciation of all major currencies against dollar, on returning to path of solid recovery, the report cites that the US software majors will be mopping up revenue not by enhancing sales but by the trend of a weakening dollar at the end of this fiscal. The report adds that most companies in the US will be out of the revenue decline phase by the beginning of 2010 with the impetus and focus being on new emerging markets and verticals. In the same vein, the recovery optimism is buoyed by the recent IDC (International Data Corporation) report on 52 countries which constitutes 98% of global IT spend. Attaining a CAGR of 11.8%by 2013 while further contributing a rise in GDP from 1.8% to 2.3%. Commenting on the current resetting phenomenon in the global IT ecosystem and its consequent impact on Indian IT market, the report points out how locally the IT market will drive the creation of nearly 7,000 new businesses and 3,24,000 jobs between end of 2009 and 2013 with most of new companies being small locally-owned organisations. |
