IT spending to touch $92.7 bn in 2021: Gartner

India’s IT spending is expected to grow 8% from 2020 and touch $92.7 billion in 2021, as per the latest forecast by Gartner. This is an upward revision from the increase of 7.3% that the global research firm had estimated in its previous review in April.

The latest revision is also lesser than the 8.6% growth Gartner projects for worldwide IT spending at a total of $4.2 trillion in 2021. Gartner pointed out that boards and CEOs are much more willing to invest in technology that has a clear tie to business outcomes and less for everything else. The IT services segment is among the top three highest growth areas for 2021 primarily due to a boost in infrastructure-as-a-service spending that supports critical workloads and avoids high on-premises costs. Globally, the IT services segment is forecast to total $1.2 trillion in 2021, an increase of 9.8% from 2020.

Naveen Mishra, a senior research director at Gartner, said the second wave of the pandemic and associated lockdowns have brought a significant sluggishness during most of the second quarter of 2021. “However, demand is witnessing a rapid recovery across the majority of the sectors. Pharma, healthcare, financial services, education, online retail and government continue to invest in their digital transformation journey.”

The firm highlighted that Indian organizations, including SMEs, will be better positioned to invest more into IT, though the next two quarters. All segments of IT spending are projected to grow in 2021, in India and end-users are forecasted to spend the highest on devices in 2021 after a 5.9% decline in 2020.

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John-David Lovelock, distinguished research vice president, Gartner, said CIOs are looking for partners who can think past the digital sprints of 2020 and be more intentional in their digital transformation efforts in 2021. “This means building technologies and services that don’t yet exist, and further differentiating their organization in an already crowded market.”

Lovelock says digital transformation can no longer be purchased overnight, and global IT spending projections reflect that. “As the world continues to open back up, enterprises will invest in tools that support innovation, anywhere operations and employees productivity and trust.”