IT exports to grow at slower pace of 10-12% in FY17: Nasscom

Export growth in the country's IT-BPO sector is expected to be slower at 10-12 per cent next fiscal hit by currency fluctuations, especially the weakening of the rupee against the US dollar, Nasscom said today.

The industry is looking at 12.3 per cent growth in the 2015-16 fiscal, ending on March 31. Last year, the IT services and software industry body had forecast a growth of 12-14 per cent in exports.

The rupee recently fell to 29-month low against the dollar. Currency movements impact the industry, which earns around 80 per cent of the revenue from the US and Europe.

Despite the impact, strong uptake of digital technologies like cloud, mobility, IoT and Big Data coupled with a rapidly growing start-up ecosystem are expected to help exports grow double-digit to reach USD 107.8 billion in 2015-16.

The overall industry (along with domestic consumption and hardware) is expected to reach an estimated USD 143 billion in 2015-16. The global IT-BPO spending rose 0.4 per cent in 2015.

"Amidst a volatile global economic environment, the industry has been able to set new benchmarks by sustaining its double-digit growth," Nasscom Chairman BVR Mohan Reddy told reporters here.

"Start-ups and eCommerce are the new champions of the industry and I expect these segments to increase their contribution to industry growth in the years to come," he said, adding that India has increased its market share in global sourcing from 55 per cent to 56 per cent.

The domestic IT-BPO revenue is expected to post 10 per cent growth to Rs 1.41 lakh crore in the ongoing fiscal and further grow by 11-13 per cent (in Indian rupee terms) to achieve revenue of Rs 1.56-1.59 lakh crore in 2016-17.

"We had estimated that the domestic segment will grow at a certain pace on the back of the announcements made by the government and trends that we saw. However, many of those have not taken off. As and when they do, we will see a larger impact," Nasscom President R Chandrashekhar said.

The industry added 2 lakh employees in 2015-16 reaching a total employee base of 3.7 million. The Indian IT-BPO industry has received over USD 7 billion in FDI, including USD 5 billion in start-up investments, in current fiscal, Nasscom said.

"eCommerce contributed USD 17 billion revenue boosting digital consumption. India continues to gain market share in the global sourcing sector and emerges as the largest, most diversified and scalable destination," Reddy said.

The industry is expected to add around 2 lakh jobs and is marching steadily to reach total revenue of USD 350 billion by 2025 with digital revenues spearheading growth.

Talking about start-ups, Reddy said the industry is continuously building and strengthening its digital solutions capabilities.

"Digital contributed approximately 13 per cent for the leading technology companies. Further, the industry employed over 250,000 digitally skilled employees. Digital M&A deals also witnessed a spike in volume and value crossing USD 2 billion in 2015-16 growing 3 times over last year," he added.

Increased emphasis on design, creativity, agility and customer experience will lead India to strengthening its position further and presenting itself as the ideal digital solutions partner to the world, Reddy said.

With over 4,200 start-ups, India is now the third largest start-up base with over 1,200 start-ups being created every year aided by USD 4.9 billion worth of funding, over 150 active VC/PEs and over 110 incubators and accelerators.