Indian cloud market to grow by 70% this year: IDC

The Indian cloud computing market, which was estimated at $535 million in 2011, is likely to grow by more than 70 per cent in the current year, according to research firm IDC.

“IDC estimates the Indian cloud market to be in the region of $535 million in 2011, with a growth of more than 70 per cent expected for 2012 and almost 50 per cent growth forecast for the next three years,” IDC said in its India Cloud Market Overview, 2011-2016.

Cloud computing refers to pay-per-use model of computing where applications and softwares are accessed over the internet and not owned by users. Companies can save huge costs on these products as they would not have to invest in purchasing them, resulting in reduced IT costs.

“We have definitely seen cloud cross the inflexion point in end 2011. With proper messaging from key vendors and due diligence of opportunities which exist in the cloud delivery models, the market will grow much faster in the coming years,” IDC India Research Manager (Software and IT Services) Nirupam Chaudhuri said in a statement.

IDC said for seamless integration of the IT infrastructure into the cloud environment, it is essential that cloud providers help organisations in assessing their cloud readiness, and recommend a cloud adoption roadmap accordingly.

“This would provide a boost to cloud consulting services in the coming 12-24 months. A direct corollary is that vendors need to have robust cloud consulting capabilities in place for making a foray into this space,” IDC India Senior Market Analyst (IT Services) Sandeep Kumar Sharma said.