Government IT spending in India to touch $6.4 bn in 2013: Gartner

NEW DELHI: The government's IT spending will rise by 7 per cent to $6.4 billion this year with consulting, project implementation and IT outsourcing accounting for a major chunk, research firm Gartner said today.

The forecast includes spending by central and state governments on internal IT (including personnel), hardware, software, external IT services and telecom, it said in a release.

"Government IT spending in India will reach $6.4 billion in 2013, a 7 per cent increase over 2012," Gartner said.

IT services, which include consulting, implementation, IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing, will be the largest overall spending category throughout 2017 within the government sector, it added.

"IT services spending is expected to grow 7.7 per cent in 2013 to reach $1.4 billion in 2013, up from $1.3 billion in 2012, with business process outsourcing segment growing by 15.3 per cent," Gartner Research Director Anurag Gupta said.

Software will achieve a growth rate of 10.5 per cent in 2013 to reach $709 million in 2013, up from $642 million in 2012, led by growth in vertical specific software (software applications that are unique to a vertical industry, he added.

Internal services will achieve the highest growth rate amongst the spending categories, forecast to be 12.8 per cent in 2013. Internal services refer to salaries and benefits paid to the information services staff of an organisation. These services staff includes company employees that plan, develop, implement and maintain information systems, Gartner said.

After years of exporting IT outsourcing and BPO expertise across multiple verticals globally, many large ICT companies in India are now increasingly looking inwards and targeting the Indian government ICT market, it added.

The ICT industry will benefit from eGovernment projects, which are part of National eGovernance Plan, with investments in 31 mission mode projects like Unique Identification Authority ( UIDAI) -- delivering Aadhaar numbers (a target of covering over 600 Million citizens by 2014).

"Indian government is developing cloud policy, GI cloud (Meghraj) which will see more clarity in near future. Wide proliferation of affordable broadband connectivity (and mobile phones alongside) is expected to provide further opportunities in eGovernance and mobility solutions," Gupta said.

Alongside central government projects like excise, income tax and post office, other state governments will also undertake initiatives in municipalities, land records and other joint initiatives like digital court rooms and common service centres, he added.