NASSCOM, the premier trade body and ‘voice’ of the IT – BPO industry in India, today announced the key findings of the Strategic Review 2008. Findings indicate software and services exports are expected to cross USD 40 billion and the domestic market is expected to touch USD 23 billion in FY08. Positive market indicators and a strong track record strongly support the optimism of the industry in achieving its aspired target of USD 60 billion in software and services exports and USD 73-75 billion in overall software and services revenues, by FY2010.

The Strategic Review 2008 will be formally released at the NASSCOM’s upcoming conference - India Leadership Forum, scheduled from February 13-15^th 2008 in Mumbai.

Commenting on the key findings of the Strategic Review 2007, Mr. Lakshmi Narayanan, Chairman NASSCOM and Vice-Chairman, Cognizant, said “The robust growth of the Indian IT-BPO industry by over 33 per cent in the current fiscal year reinforces the confidence of global corporations in India. As we move towards 2010, trends indicate that the industry is firmly poised for broad-based growth across industries and service lines, thereby strengthening India’s leadership position as the primary sourcing location for software, IT infrastructure and business process- related services.”

Mr. Som Mittal, President, NASSCOM said, “The Indian IT industry has been rapidly evolving; growth is on track to achieve, if not exceed the targets for 2010. The trends are interesting and findings indicate that the domestic market is poised for growth with IT spends trending upwards, particularly by the Government. We also see an increasing level of specialisation within the industry both in IT services and BPO, exhibiting signs of a rapidly maturing industry. However, there are global macro economic challenges; talent, manpower and infrastructure issues will need to be addressed and resolved, collectively. The industry has shown resilience and has taken several steps to mitigate the impact.”

In addition to the direct positive impacts on national income growth, foreign exchange reserve accumulation and employment generation, the sector has also spawned several ancillary industries, triggered a rise in direct-tax collections and propelled an increase in consumer spending, attributed to the significantly higher disposable incomes. It is estimated that every rupee earned in the Indian IT-BPO sector induces nearly another rupee of economic spending in the rest of the economy and every job created in the sector induces the creation of 4 more jobs in the economy.

The Strategic Review 2008 reviews various aspects relating to the Indian IT-BPO sector’s performance in 2007. The report estimates the growth expected in the current fiscal FY2008, detailing the service line trends observed across the various industry segments over the past year and assessing India’s competitiveness as a sourcing destination. It analyses the sustainability of each individual factor contributing to India’s leadership position and provides a view of the outlook projected for the global and Indian IT-BPO industries – outlining the opportunities, challenges and agenda for key stakeholders to further extend India’s leadership in this space.