Indian IT spending to grow 16.6% in 2005

Gartner predicted that Indian companies will spend $22.8 bln on IT and up to $16.7 bln on telecom in 2005. Enterprise spending on information communications and technology (ICT) in India is expected to grow at 16.6% as compared to Asia Pacific growth at 7.6% in 2005. In India, $3.34 bln is the projected spend on hardware, an increase of 21.1% over 2004; $0.52 bln (a 16.4% increase) on software; and $2.32 bln (a 18.3% increase) on IT Services out of the total $22.88 bln. Gartner said that India will remain the highest growth market for telecom with around 35 mln new subscribers in 2005, almost 25% of the new subscribers in Asia Pacific and an 18% increase from 2004.