Indian SaaS industry revenue can grow 6-fold to $13-15 bn by 2025: Report

Indian IT companies providing software as a service have the potential to grow their revenue by six fold to $13-15 billion by 2025, a report said on Thursday.

According to the joint report by industry body Nasscom, Sassbhoomi and Zinnov, India's software as a service (SaaS) revenue has reached $3.5 billion as of financial year 2020 with compounded annual growth rate of 30 per cent and 75 per cent of it came from global sales.

"It is estimated that by 2025, the global addressable market for SaaS will be around $400 billion. By 2025, the pure-play India SaaS industry, currently at $2.5 billion revenues, has the potential to grow to $13-15 billion, clocking a 6X growth," the report said.

Electronics and IT Secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney during the launch of the report asked IT companies to compete with global software products as well as create some differences.

"We must find our own product which can compete with the existing products in the global area but can do something which is very original. National public digital platforms are starting to be conceptualised and rolled out. These platforms will create opportunities for companies, startups, all kind of service providers to use the national platforms and build on top of that," Sawhney said.

He said that national digital platforms for health, education, agriculture, logistics, urban management, justice, welfare activities and many more are in the works to provide services to the citizens and create opportunity for all kinds of service providers.

"As a technology industry, we have barely scratched the surface when it comes to use cases that can be delivered via SaaS to benefit across sectors. India today needs greater cross industry collaborations, supportive government policy, and investment in deep technologies, to further the growth of the SaaS industry exponentially," Nasscom President Debjani Ghosh said.

The Global SaaS industry is now estimated to have reached around $ 100 billion in 2019.

"From a geographical point of view, the Americas are the highest SaaS adopters, accounting for almost 60 per cent of the market. The US also accounts for more than 70 per cent of global SaaS funding," the report said.

The Indian SaaS industry today has more than 1,000 companies, with over 150 companies generating an annual recurring revenue greater than $ 1 million, it added.

"Chennai has emerged as the 'SaaS capital' of the nation, generating more tha $ 1 billion in revenue," the report said.

According to the report, there is a huge opportunity for India to tap the global SaaS market.

Indian SaaS companies need to build on their strategic playbook, which includes ensuring business continuity during times like COVID-19, enhancing its existing value proposition, identifying growth opportunities etc, it added.