Indian IT doubles market share in 6 years

Indian IT outsourcers have more than doubled their share in total worldwide IT spends over the past six years, and the bigger Indian IT companies have outpaced their MNC counterparts over this period.

India IT companies accounted for $31 billion, or 4.8%, of the worldwide IT spending of $641 billion in 2006-07 . This year, it is estimated to be $77 billion, or 9.8%, of the global spending of $785 billion, according to research by brokerage firm Angel Broking.

The research also looks at 13 of the top global IT outsourcers — eight MNCs and five Indian — and finds that the Indian outsourcers' share in the total revenues of the 13 companies has risen from 7.7% in fiscal 2007 to 14.3% in fiscal 2012, and that of the MNCs has dipped correspondingly from 92.3% to 85.7%.

Angel Broking's report explains Indian companies' gains saying that although the labour cost advantage for Indian IT had been on a declining trend, there still was a comfortable 20-25% cost saving for clients along with availability of a young workforce.

Pradeep Udhas, partner and head of IT/ITeS in consultancy firm KPMG India, said Indian companies had developed people capabilities and moved up the value chain to pitch for bigger contracts. "Previously, Indian players were grouped together based on low-cost offerings sans any differentiation. Companies like Accenture and IBM made a positive impact on business issues especially around strategy. But in the last few years, Indian IT companies are able to sell a differentiated proposition, deepening the client relationship," he said.

Siddharth Pai, partner & MD of outsourcing advisory firm ISG, noted that not just Indian, even other regional IT players were steadily winning market share. "Companies like Xchanging and Atos are chipping away market share from MNCs with their specialized offerings," he said.

Angel Broking expects Indian IT companies to continue gaining share "going forward", but Pai strikes a note of caution. He said offshore services driven by labour arbitrage had a limited play.