Indian IT Services market grew 6% in 2020 amid pandemic

The Indian IT and Business Services market was valued at $13.41 billion in 2020 and recorded a 5.41 per cent year-over-year (YoY) growth as compared to 8.43 per cent in 2019, an International Data Corporation (IDC) report showed on Tuesday.

Of the IT and Business Services market, the IT Services market contributed 77.06 per cent and grew by 5.97 per cent in 2020 compared to the 8.91 per cent growth in 2019.

The reduced growth rate was due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on businesses in the country.

The IT and Business Services market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 7.18 per cent between 2020-2025 and reach $18.97 billion by the end of 2025, the IDC said.

"During the second half of 2020, apart from cloud adoption and IT security, enterprises also started to increasingly invest in technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and analytics for solutions like conversational AI and Chatbots, fraud prevention, demand forecasting, etc., which would help streamline their business operations," said Harish Krishnakumar, Senior Market Analyst, IT Services, IDC India.

Even sectors like manufacturing, which was adversely affected during the initial stages of the pandemic, started investing in cloud-based applications and automation projects.

2021 will pave the way for business resiliency plans to kick-in and accelerated investments in technologies to support an enterprise's digital goals.

"Some of the areas where IDC envisions clear opportunities for service providers include cloud enablement and augmentation services, network management, optimisation and automation, managed security services, and AI-based services, among others," said Shweta Baidya, Senior Research Manager, Enterprise Software and ICT Services, IDC India.

With a large part of the workforce being out of action during the second wave of the pandemic, enterprises will look up to their service partners to enable digital transformation initiatives and prepare them to be a future-ready enterprise, she noted.