IT spending in India to grow 11% , reach USD 44 billion in 2024: Report

Spending in the Information Technology in India for 2024 is expected to grow 11 per cent year-on-year, reaching USD 44 billion in 2024, according to global market intelligence and advisory services provider International Data Corporation (IDC).

This was presented today by IDC to Chief Information Officers and senior IT leaders from across India during the thirteenth annual edition of the India CIO Summit themed ‘The Future of IT: Rethinking Digitalization for an AI Everywhere World.’

In 2023, despite economic headwinds and uncertainty, Indian enterprises continued to invest in digital to increase customer engagement and satisfaction, launch new products and services, and improve efficiency to drive revenue growth and profitability.

At its India CIO Summit, themed ‘The Future of IT: Rethinking Digitalization for an AI Everywhere World’, the advisory services provider said Indian enterprises allocated their budgets mainly to software, application development and cloud migrations.

“(It is) a reflection of their judiciousness to make their hardware assets work longer and elongating refresh cycles,” said IDC.

As India’s digital economy continues to thrive in 2024 and beyond, IDC expects IT spending in India to accelerate at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.9 per cent over the coming years to cross the USD 59 billion mark in 2027, with the software market consistently showing double-digit growth.

It also said Generative AI (GenAI) will continue to accelerate AI adoption in India with more leading organizations exploring or investing in its use cases.

As technology leaders realise AI’s role in their digital-first strategies, IDC forecasts that investments in GenAI by 2027 will be 26 per cent of the overall AI spend in the country or a CAGR of 101.6 per cent.

This year, the CIO event sought to empower attendees with insights on how they can further realize the transformative power of AI to enhance digital innovation.

“India Inc.’s shift to digital continues unabated as enterprises march aggressively towards an AI Everywhere future. We can clearly see this in the growth of AI investments from Indian enterprises,” said Vasant Rao, Managing Director, IDC India and South Asia.

Steven Frantzen, Head of WW Strategy and Senior VP and Regional Managing Director (EMEA), IDC, who delivered a presentation on digitalization for an AI world said, “Even with economic headwinds and uncertainty in 2024, we anticipate that global ICT spending will expand by more than 6 per cent (3x of projected GDP growth), as we enter a new era of accelerated digital innovation, driven in part by greater investment in automation and generative AI.”