India public cloud services market to touch US$ 7.4 billion by 2024: IDC

India's public cloud services (PCS) market is projected to reach US$ 7.4 billion by 2024 at a CAGR of 22.2%, research firm IDC said on Friday.

In the first half of 2020, India's PCS segment, comprising infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS) solutions and software-as-a-service (SaaS), reached US$ 1.6 billion, it added.

IDC India Principal Analyst (Cloud and Artificial Intelligence) Ms. Rishu Sharma said, “The market for public cloud services was driven by the current disruption. Heading to the " next normal " allows organisations to leverage the cloud as part of their business strategies.”

Businesses across verticals such as financial services, IT/ITeS, media, education, among others are experiencing an increase in demand, added Ms. Sharma.

IDC said spending continues to strengthen with the top two cloud providers, securing approximately 52% of the Indian market for public cloud services in the first half of 2020.

From a segment viewpoint, with over 63% of the overall market in H1 2020, SaaS is the largest portion of the overall public cloud services market followed by the IaaS and PaaS segments.

Since 2016, the public cloud computing sector has nearly tripled. Reliance on cloud services and networks as well as software as a service will become essential as companies concentrate on gaining agility, versatility, and resilience.

Although the cloud has been embraced by most organisations in India at some point, the recent pandemic situation has now encouraged organisations to focus on IaaS and PaaS public clouds to speed up the process of creation and deployment of enterprise applications.

IDC India Senior Market Analyst Mr. Harish Krishnakumar stated that during the pandemic, companies that embraced cloud and other emerging technology did better than businesses with conventional IT systems, thereby emphasizing the crucial need for digital transformation.

There was a rise in demand for cloud-based collaboration software, content management systems, and online entertainment services during the pandemic, he added.

"We are experiencing demand from large businesses, tech start-ups and government institutions. The pandemic, along with investments from tech companies is expected to accelerate the adoption of cloud among SMBs," he said.

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