Information Technology in India

Information Technology is one of the most important industries in the Indian economy. The IT industry of India has registered huge growth in recent years. India's IT industry grew from 150 million US Dollars in 1990-1991 to a whopping 50 billion UD Dollars in 2006-2007. In the last ten years the Information Technology industry in India has grown at an average annual rate of 30%.

The liberalization of the Indian economy in the early nineties has played a major role in the growth of the IT industry of India. Deregulation policies adopted by the Government of India have led to substantial domestic investment and inflow of foreign capital to this industry. In 1970, high import duties had forced IBM to leave India. However, after the early nineties, many multi national IT companies, including IBM, have set up their operations in India. During the ten year period 1992-2002, the Indian software industry grew at double the rate as the US software industry.

Some of the major reasons for the significant growth of the IT industry of India are -

Abundant availability of skilled manpower
Reduced telecommunication and internet costs
Reduced import duties on software and hardware products
Cost advantages
Encouraging government policies

Some of the major companies in the IT industry of India are -


Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
Infosys
Wipro
IBM
HP
HCL
Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS)
Patni
Satyam
NIIT

India's IT industry caters to both domestic and export markets. Exports contribute around 75% of the total revenue of the IT industry in India. The IT industry can be broadly divided into four segments -


IT services
Softwares (includes both engineering and Research and Development)
ITES-BPO
Hardware
HR Software
Cost effective payroll and HR software solutions from KCS.