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The countrys software and business process outsourcing exports are expected to rise 5.5 per cent to touch USD50 billion in the current fiscal (2009- 10), says industry body Nasscom. The estimation is in line with an earlier forecast of 4-7 per cent given by Nasscom. The industry was optimistic to reach the USD50 billion milestone export target in the current fiscal. For 2010-11, it hopes that IT and BPO exports should grow at an annual 13 to 15 per cent to touch USD 56-57 billion as the slowdown peters out and the world economy recovers boosting demand for outsourcing. The sectors export growth had been slowing down from 32 per cent five years ago to single digits of late.
Releasing the Indian IT-BPO sector performance estimates for FY09-10, Nasscom said "export revenues for the Indian IT- BPO industry are expected to record a growth of 5.5 per cent, to reach USD 49.7 billion in FY 09-10."
It said as industry emerges stronger from the global economic meltdown to post encouraging results, domestic revenues may also grow by 15-17 per cent in the next fiscal to touch Rs 76,100-77,500 crore. For the current fiscal the domestic market is expected to witness 12 per cent growth in FY09-10 to reach Rs 66,200 crore.
Industry will continue to be a net hirer with direct employment expected to grow by 4 per cent and cross 2.3 million with over 90,000 jobs added in FY09-10, Nasscom President Som Mittal said.
Top Indian outsourcing companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys Technologies, and Wipro said in January that they were seeing an improvement in demand for their services from customers in key markets, including the U.S.
Indian outsourcing companies have also started hiring in large numbers again. Wipros IT services business added 4,855 staff in the quarter ended Dec. 31. The company had cut staff by 630 in its IT services business in the previous quarter. TCS said in January that it is adding about 11,000 staff in the current quarter, including 8,000 trainees. The company added 7,692 staff in the quarter to Dec. 31.
Direct employment by the countrys IT industry is expected to be 2.3 million by March 31, 2010, with over 90,000 jobs added during the current fiscal year, Nasscom said.
A number of new large IT services deals are expected to be signed by the second quarter of this year, Sudin Apte, principal analyst at Forrester Research, said in January. Indian companies are however not likely to achieve soon the revenue growth levels they had before the recession, he added.
A lot of the expenditure by customers still falls under the category of necessary expenditure, with discretionary expenditure on IT services likely to start by the middle of this year, according to Diptarup Chakraborti, principal research analyst at Gartner.
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