'Manufacturing, natural resources sectors to hike IT spend in 2013'

To spend Rs 40,800 cr vs Rs 37,400 cr, up 9% from 2012

Indian manufacturers and natural resources companies will spend Rs 40,800 crore on IT products and services in 2013, up 9 per cent over 2012 revenue of Rs 37,400 crore, according to Gartner Inc. This forecast includes spending by manufacturers and natural resource companies  on internal IT (including personnel), hardware, software, external IT services and telecommunications.
 
The telecommunications category remains the biggest spending category overall in the manufacturing and natural resources industry, and it is forecast to reach Rs 13,200 crore in 2013. Meanwhile, software is achieving the highest growth rate amongst the top level IT spending categories – forecast to exceed 15 per cent in 2013, with especially strong growth forecast for enterprise resource planning (ERP)/supply chain management (SCM)/customer relationship management (CRM), desktop software, and manufacturing-specific applications. Gartner anticipates very high demand for consulting services as manufacturers plan for these implementations, forecasting growth of over 22 per cent in 2013 alone.  
 
“Despite India’s slowing economic growth, manufacturing and natural resources remain large and important sectors in the Indian economy, and they are attracting increased IT spending to improve productivity and competitiveness,” said Ken Brant, research director for manufacturing at Gartner. “Indian manufacturers are seeking to use IT to make process improvements and information from across manufacturing operations more transparent and actionable,” he added.