INDIA GROWTH STORY: Indian Computer-Services Exports May Increase 28%

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Indian Computer-Services Exports May Increase 28%

Indian Computer-Services Exports May Increase 28% (Update1)

By Harichandan Arakali

Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- India's computer-services exports may gain 28 percent this fiscal year as companies including International Business Machines Corp. manage networks and call centers for clients such as Citigroup Inc. from the nation.

Exports will rise to $40.8 billion for the year ending March 31, the National Association of Software and Service Companies said in an e-mailed statement today. The home market will likely generate $23.2 billion in revenue, boosting total growth by 33 percent to $64 billion, the industry's lobbying group forecast.

The South Asian nation may exceed its target of $60 billion in computer services exports for the 12 months ending March 2010, Nasscom President Som Mittal said. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. and Infosys Technologies Ltd., India's largest providers of software services, compete with IBM to write software and maintain networks from India for overseas clients.

The industry accounts for 5.5 percent of India's gross domestic product for the current year, up from 1.2 percent for fiscal 1998, Nasscom said.

Tata Consultancy, based in Mumbai, gained 1 percent on the Bombay Stock Exchange today at 1:15 p.m. Bangalore-based Infosys climbed 1.5 percent.

U.S. information-technology buyers, concerned that the economy is slumping, may spend less than projected this year, reducing worldwide demand for computers, software and services, Forrester Research Inc. said today in a report. U.S. spending will climb 2.8 percent to $552 billion, missing an earlier forecast for 4.6 percent growth, the researcher said today.

Global spending will rise 6 percent to $1.7 trillion, instead of the 9 percent originally predicted, Cambridge, Massachusetts-Forrester said.