IT & Software Services

India's IT services boom began in the 1990s, but the last decade cemented its global scale. Exports of software services rose from US$ 82.0 billion in 2014-15 to US$ 204.7 billion in 2024-25 (RBI), and IT and IT-enabled services industry revenue, including hardware, was USD 283 billion in FY25 (Economic Survey 2025-26, citing Nasscom), with over 54 lakh people employed. The US (over half of exports) and Europe remain the biggest markets.

The newest engine is the Global Capability Centre (GCC) — over 1,700 offshore hubs where global firms run engineering, R&D, finance and analytics from India, projected to employ ~35 lakh by 2030. Firms like TCS, Infosys and Wipro anchor the industry, and the IndiaAI Mission and a maturing startup ecosystem are pushing the sector up the value chain into AI and deep tech.

India's IT industry was built on the global delivery model — doing software development, maintenance and back-office (BPM) work for foreign companies far more cheaply than they could at home, using India's large pool of English-speaking engineers. Firms like TCS and Infosys grew huge on this. The newer engine is the Global Capability Centre — where a multinational sets up its own tech and R&D hub in India rather than outsourcing to a vendor.

The IT and IT-enabled services industry earned USD 283 billion in revenue in FY25, including hardware (Economic Survey 2025-26, citing Nasscom), over $200 billion of it from exports, and employs about 5.8 million people, with over 1,750 Global Capability Centres now a major growth driver. The next frontier is generative AI — India's IT firms and GCCs are moving beyond delivery into AI products, design and high-end engineering, turning the new technology into India's next export engine.

US$ 82.0 → 204.7 bn software services exports (2014-15→2024-25, RBI survey). IT & ITeS revenue USD 283 bn (FY25, incl. hardware); ~54 lakh employed. 1,700+ GCCs. Sources: RBI, Economic Survey 2025-26 (citing Nasscom), ESC.