Government IT spending to reach $7.2 bn in 2016: Gartner

The Indian government is set to spend $7.2 billion on IT products and services in 2016 -- an increase of 2.4 percent over 2015, a new report said on Monday.

The forecast includes spending on internal services, software, IT services, data centre, devices and telecom services, noted the report released by the global research firm Gartner.

IT services (which includes consulting, software support, business process outsourcing, IT outsourcing, implementation and hardware support) is expected to grow 9.3 percent in 2016 to reach $1.8 billion.

Telecom services will be a $1.6 billion market, with the mobile network services sub-segment recording the fastest growth with 5.2 percent in 2016 to reach $909 million.

"Government spending on software will total $885 million in 2016, a 4.5 percent increase from 2015," said Moutusi Sau, principal research analyst at Gartner.

Internal services (salaries and benefits paid to the information services staff of an organisation) will grow 5.8 percent in 2016 to reach $1.5 billion.

"The e-governance initiatives to simplify digital channels and data-driven initiatives are driving investments in the government and are anticipated to grow through 2020," Sau added.

--IANS

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