Covid-19 Impact: Indian IT Industry Growth Slows Down, But Not Drastically

Due to the adverse impact of COVID-19, the annual growth of the India IT & business services market is expected to grow 6.5 per cent to reach $14 billion by December 2020, according to a forecast from International Data Corporation (IDC) on Tuesday.

According to an earlier forecast from IDC in November last year, before the outbreak of the pandemic was reported, the IT & business services market was expected to grow annually by 6.8 per cent to be valued at $14.2 billion by December 2020.

In the second half of 2019, this market grew by 8 per cent year-on-year, according to the latest IDC "Worldwide Semiannual Services Tracker-2H19". Of the IT & business services market, the IT services market contributed 76.3 per cent in 2H19 and grew by 8.5 per cent year-over-year. Further, as per IDC, the IT services market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.6 per cent between 2019-2024, to be valued at $14.6 billion by the end of 2024.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a slowdown in the overall economy, and also in the IT services market, said the report. Although new contracts, as well as contract renewals in IT services, are expected to be affected during the crisis, it is also expected that consulting services, modern collaborative applications, managed security services, network management services and hosting services will represent higher revenue-generating opportunities in the calendar year 2020.

"In CY2020, the focus of IT services vendors during the pandemic has shifted to addressing the challenges of remote connectivity and collaboration, connecting with their ecosystem of customers, suppliers and partners, while also ensuring business continuity, building organisational resilience, and being more adaptable," Garima Goenka, Market Analyst, IT Services, IDC India, said in a statement.

Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, project-oriented services, such as consulting, custom application development, systems integration, etc. are expected to reduce steeply in the short-term. But managed services, such as application management, hosting services, IT outsourcing, network management etc. are expected to reduce only marginally in the short-term, it said.