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Not with standing the impact of the global economic turmoil, the Indian IT industry is optimistic about the longterm growth prospects and expects to ride out of the downturn like in the past. Participating in a panel discussion on Outsourcing, Offshoring, Obama and Overreaction, at the TiE Entrepreneurial Summit 2008, industry players maintained that the India story was intact, while growth would slow down in the shortterm, reflecting the economic environment.
Slowdown was anticipate. The impact would be felt in 2009 and recovery is expected in late 2009 and early 2010, said S. Gopalakrishnan, CEO, Infosys. Striking an optimistic note, Gopalakrishnan said India was still seeing a six to seven per cent growth while the world is in recession.
The industry has benefited from the downturns in the past and is well positioned to take advantage as offshore provides a way to cut costs for customers.
Indian IT vendors are facing uncertain times as customers have delayed or held back their investments deploying new technology applications in the US and Europe, which account for 90 per cent of the countrys software exports.
Nasscom, which had earlier forecast a 21 to 24 per cent growth for the Indian IT exports, expects to lower growth estimates for the sector in the next few weeks. Indias USD 40 billion IT services exports currently account for a mere five per cent of the global IT services spend of USD 800 billion.
The industry had to now contend with Osama, said Som Mittal, President, Nasscom, referring to the recent Mumbai terror attacks, which had forced customers to postpone their travel plans to India.
Raman Roy, Chairman and managing director of Quatrro, a BPO firm, said the small and mediumsized companies in the US, who are yet to take advantage of offshoring and outsourcing, present a huge opportunity for the Indian IT SMEs.
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