According to Gartner, the government?s IT spending is expected to reach $6.4 billion in 2013 witnessing a growth of 7 per cent over 2012.
The forecast includes spending by the government (state and central government agencies) on internal IT (including personnel), hardware, software, external IT services and telecommunications. Within the government vertical, IT services, which includes consulting, implementation, IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing will emerge as the highest spending category by 2017. Further, the IT services spending are expected to grow at 7.7 per cent to reach $1.4 billion in 2013. The business process outsourcing segment is expected to register a growth rate of 15.3 per cent.
Gartner states that the IT spending on internal services comprising salaries and benefits paid to the information services staff of an organisation is forecasted to grow at 12.8 per cent in 2013. The information services staff includes company employees that plan, develop, implement and maintain information systems. The spending on software is expected to increase from $642 million in 2012 to $709 million in 2013. The growth in the segment will be led by vertical specific software (the standalone applications that are not modules or extensions of horizontal applications).
Going forward, the information communications and technology industry will benefit from various eGovernment projects, initiated by the government as part of the National eGovernance Plan. The government has invested in 31 projects such as Unique Identification Authority (UIDAI), which is delivering ?Aadhaar? cards to citizens. UIDAI is working with various stakeholders for setting up infrastructure for authenticating and confirming digital identities for several purposes such as for Aadhar enabled payment systems. The increasing penetration of broadband is further expected to boost eGovernance and mobility solutions. Besides IT-led projects by the central government, IT spending in the government segment will be driven by various state governments undertaking projects related to the maintenance of land records and the launch of digital court rooms and common service centres.
