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Asia's IT services market, led by India, is poised to expand at an
average annual pace of 10.5 percent to reach 55.9 billion dollars by
2011, an industry research firm said on Tuesday.
Demand for IT services in the region, excluding Japan, was estimated
to be worth 37.5 billion dollars in 2007, according to the findings
of a report by Springboard Research, an IT market research firm.
India's information-technology services market, forecast to expand
at an annual 18.6 percent rate, will remain the fastest growing,
said the report.
But as a region, Greater China will offer the largest market
opportunity in dollar terms at the end of the forecast period, it
said.
"The Asia Pacific IT Services market is arguably the global
leader in terms of growth, supplemented with a mix of mature and
emerging markets," Phil Hassey, vice president for services
research at Springboard, said.
"The markets of interest are not just the top four -- China,
India, Australia and Korea -- but the emerging ones like Indonesia
and Vietnam, which will register significant growth," Hassey
added in a statement.
In India, annual economic growth of nine percent is spurring
domestic IT spending as companies upgrade computer systems to stay
competitive and consumers log onto the Internet.
The domestic market has largely been ignored by India's industry,
which has boomed on work from Western firms trying to cut costs by
taking advantage of India's English-speaking, computer-savvy
graduates who work for lower salaries.
The Indian market is still "fragmented and a long way from
maturity," Hassey said in e-mailed replies to queries from AFP.
"National coverage (of service providers) is limited, and
typically the engagement cost and contract value pales in comparison
on a per capita basis when compared with Australia, Hong Kong or
Singapore," he added.
Companies in the region will be forced to farm out IT services work
to external providers, as they struggle to retain in-house talent,
said Springboard, with offices in the United States, Australia,
Singapore and Japan.
India will stay ahead of China as an offshore IT services delivery
hub, especially for English-language requirements, "as skill
levels, quality, culture and governance" favour India as an
outsourcing destination, said the firm, which also has research
centres in India, Pakistan and Morocco
 --AFP
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