India's offshore IT revenues hit $13.3bn

Revenue across India's booming offshore IT software and services industry grew by 33 per cent over the last year, hitting a new high of $13.3bn.

The annual figures from India's IT trade body Nasscom, for the financial year 2005/06, also show a 37 per cent rise in the country's business process outsourcing (BPO) revenues to $6.2bn.

Nasscom's predictions for growth in the next 12 months show no sign of India's position of dominance in offshore IT and BPO services being lost any time soon. Combined IT services and BPO revenue for the financial year 2006/07 is expected to grow by up to 30 per cent, to between $29bn and $31bn,

This continued level of growth will put India's offshore outsourcing industry on target to hit revenues of $60bn by 2010, according to Kiran Karnik, president of Nasscom.

He said in a statement: "In the last year India's strength has emerged through large client wins, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, movement of the industry towards a stable pricing model and a gradual positive shift in the outsourcing debate."

But Karnik warned India also needs to address concerns about the quality of its graduates and the country's poor physical infrastructure.

A separate report by research company Everest last month also claimed India will maintain its low-cost IT skills advantage in the offshore outsourcing market for at least another 30 years.