IT spending in India will reach $100 billion by 2022: Gartner

The IT spending in India will reach $101.8 billion by 2022, up 7 percent from the previous year, driven by the digital transformation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Gartner.

In 2021, the IT spending stood at $91.88 billion, close to 17 percent growth from what the companies in India spent on IT in 2020. This growth is primarily driven by demand for IT and software services, which will grow at 9.1 percent and 14.4 percent, respectively in 2022 from the previous year.

While experiencing a slower growth rate than 2021, spending on software in 2022 is forecast to be nearly double of what it was pre-pandemic, the report said.

The Gartner report revealed that digital initiatives and workplace transformation are key priorities for businesses in 2022 and 2023. The market intelligence agency’s board of directors survey revealed that 57 percent of the board directors expect the risk appetite to increase as they invest more in technology to optimise existing business models and adopt new ones.

“The digital transformation trajectory that began as a pandemic response is here to stay for the next few years,” said Arup Roy, research vice president at Gartner. “India has experienced one of the fastest recoveries despite being one of the worst hit regions in the second wave of the pandemic in early 2021. In 2022, CIOs in India will build on renewed interest in technology from the business to gain funding for new IT projects,” he added.

"Indian CIOs are likely to increase their spending towards projects that drive innovation and modernising legacy systems. Hiring a workforce that can deliver on these needs will also be a key priority. Next year, Indian CIOs are prioritising a move away from rigid and monolithic ways of doing business to a more composable business and IT architecture where they will be able to better respond to disruptions," Roy said.