The growth and evolution of India's software industry

Abstract

THE DEVELOPMENT OF the Indian software industry is an archetype of how economic liberalization combined with an entrepreneurial spirit can build an industry that today contributes as much as 8% to the GDP of a fast-growing country like India. On the back of thousands of IT services companies that were built over the last three decades, the industry has generated US$177 billion in revenue and more than US$135 billion in exports in FY 2018-2019 alone. The IT industry has also created over four million direct jobs and 12 million indirect jobs in India. A testament to this growth is the fact that the largest Indian IT services company is currently valued at over US$100 billion and generates over US$20 billion in revenue. Over the years, the Indian software industry has matured from providing cost-effective back office support to driving the digital transformation agenda.