Information Technology

The Indian information and technology industry has played a key role in putting India on the global map. Thanks to the success of the IT industry, India is now a power to reckon with. According to the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), the apex body for software services in India, the revenue of the information technology sector has grown from 1.2 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in FY 1997-98 to an estimated 5.5 per cent in FY 2007-08. The net value added by this sector, to the economy, is estimated to be 3.3 to 3.9 per cent for FY 2007-08.

The phenomenal growth of the Indian IT Software & Services and ITES-BPO sector has had a perceptible multiplier effect on the Indian economy as a whole. In addition to the direct positive impact on national income, the sector has grown to become the biggest employment generator, and has spawned the mushrooming of several ancillary industries such as transportation, real estate and catering, and has created a rising class of youthful consumers with high disposable incomes. This, in turn, has triggered a rise in direct-tax collections and propelled an increase in consumer spending.

The total IT Software and Services employment is expected to reach the 2- million mark in 2007-08 (excluding employment in the hardware sector), as against 1.63 million in 2006-07, a growth of 22.7 per cent year-on-year. This represents a net addition of 375,000 professionals to the industry employee base, this year. The indirect employment attributed by the sector is estimated to about 8 million in year 2007-08. This translates to the creation of about 10 million job opportunities attributed to the growth of this sector.

The Indian IT industry is recognised the world over for its quality. Today, India leads the world in terms of the number of quality certifications achieved by centres in any single country. As of December 2007, over 498 India-based centres (both Indian firms as well as MNC-owned captives) had acquired quality certifications with 85 companies certified at Software Engineering Institute (SEI), Carnegie Mellon Capability Maturity Model (CMM) Level 5 – higher than any other country.

India's IT growth in the world is primarily dominated by IT software and services such as Custom Application Development and Maintenance (CADM), System Integration, IT Consulting, Application Management, Infrastructure Management Services, Software testing, Service-oriented architecture and Web services.