Asian IT will grow 11% in 2004

Asia's information technology industry, excluding Japan will expand by 11% to $88 bil in 2004, leading market research firm IDC said today. China, India and South Korea will be the main drivers of the growth with consumer demand for digital gadgets in the home and office expected to boom across the region. "The region's two largest developing economies, China and India, are charging forward on the economic front and driving overall regional IT market recovery," said IDC Asia-Pacific.

The IDC report said the IT market in China would grow by 18% in 2004 to $29.4 bil. Meanwhile, India is expected to also contribute strongly to the regional expansion with a growth of 19%. South Korea will show be the next best performer with 9% growth. "These three countries together will account for 80% of the incremental regional market revenue in 2004 from over the prior year," the report said. The increasing number of Internet users will also fuel the growth, with 205 mil people expected to be online across the Asia-Pacific next year, up 22% from 2003. (PTI).