IT exports to grow strong despite US crisis

Despite the sub-prime home loan crisis that has hit the US, the country’s IT and IT-enabled services exports are expected to grow by 21 to 24 per cent in 2008/09 and in the process also touch the $50 billion target set a decade ago, industry association NASSCOM said on Wednesday.

The industry registered an overall growth of 28 per cent in 2007/08, with exports crossing cashing revenue of $52 billion in 07-08. In this , the export segment grew by 29 per cent to record revenues of $40.4 billion.

“We are on our way to achieve the target of $60 billion in exports by FY 09-10. The industry is (now) focusing on improving productivity, efficiency, as well as opening up new markets and services,” Som Mittal, president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), said.

He said executives in customer companies in the US, the main export market for Indian IT, were saying that spending on technology will not be less than 2007 despite a slowdown or possible recession in that economy.

He said Japan was the industry’s next big frontier, as the 2-million-employee strong sector that houses call centres, business process outsourcing and animation service units expanded into smaller Tier II and Tier III towns that provide both lower costs and bases to hire talented workers.