IT spending by govt may reach $7.2 bn in 2015: Report

New Delhi: Indian government spending on information technology (IT) will reach $7.2 billion in 2015, a 5% increase over 2014, said a report by technology research and advisory company Gartner Inc. on Sunday.

The IT spend is likely to total $6.6 billion in 2014, including spending by state and central government agencies on internal IT, hardware, software, external IT services and telecommunications.

"IT services, which include consulting, implementation, IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing, or BPO, will be the largest overall IT government spending category through 2018," said Anurag Gupta, research director at Gartner. "IT services are expected to grow 10.9% in 2014 to reach $1.8 billion in 2015, up from $1.6 billion in 2014-with the business process outsourcing segment growing 22% during 2014."

While internal services, which include salaries and benefits paid to the information services staff of an organization, will achieve a growth rate of 9.9% in 2014, government spending on software applications unique to verticals will total $788 million in 2014, and it is expected to grow to $910 million in 2015.

"We expect a focus on expanding broadband penetration, accelerating digitization of core government processes, leveraging mobility to engage the citizens, cloud initiatives and public private partnerships," said Gupta.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.