India’s IT spending is projected to total $124.6 billion in 2024, an increase of 10.7 per cent from 2023, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc.
Spending on software and IT services is projected to experience the highest annual growth rates in 2024 in India, with software spending expected to increase by 18.5 per cent and IT services forecast to grow by 14.6 per cent.
Device spending
Despite facing a sluggish phase in 2022 and 2023, primarily due to inflationary pressures, device spending in India is projected to witness a strong resurgence in 2024, growing 10.1 per cent year-over-year. “The double-digit growth can be attributed to Indian consumers’ willingness to pay a higher price for a better experience when upgrading to new smartphones,” said Naveen Mishra, VP, Team Manager at Gartner.
While investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI) will contribute to IT spending growth in India, their impacts on IT spending levels will not be evident until 2025.
Investments in AI
“Indian organisations are expected to make investments in AI and automation during this time as a strategic effort to improve operational efficiency and address the ongoing shortage of IT talent. However, it is not until 2025 that GenAI will begin to carve its place in IT budgeting amongst Indian organisations,” said Mishra.
In the future, as GenAI continues to present unique opportunities for organisations and become part of IT budgets, CIOs and IT leaders must define their organisation’s AI ambition by examining the opportunities and risks of using GenAI in four areas: the back office, the front office, new products and services, and new core capabilities.
Additionally, CIOs and IT leaders must be able to navigate decisions about AI within their organisations by having lighthouse principles — a vision for AI that lights the way and says what kind of human-machine relationships they will and will not accept, noted the report.
To facilitate swift and safe adoption of generative AI in the next 12 months, organisations must establish AI-ready principles, make data AI-ready, and implement AI-ready security.