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INDUSTRY ANALYSIS |
INDUSTRY OVERVIEW : Year of Cautious Optimism...
Slow and steady didn’t win the race for Indian IT in 2002-03, but it did stem the bloodbath a bit. While outsourcing beefed up order books, margins went wafer-thin. Even golden boy BPO felt the pressure, but still romped home with 59% growth |
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INDUSTRY ANALYSIS |
SOFTWARE EXPORTS : A New Battle Begins
Though revenues mostly remained stable, the software services export sector struggled with shrinking bottomlines in a changing market dynamic. The new challenge—how to get profitability moving up again |
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INDUSTRY ANALYSIS |
TRAINING & EDUCATION : A Near-Death Experience
Still reeling from a 37% drop in revenues in 2001-02, the IT training industry shrunk again, by 23%, to Rs 1,215 crore in 2002-03. A quick and deft shift toward BPO training helped, but smaller companies continued to shrink and disappear |
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INDUSTRY ANALYSIS |
HUMAN RESOURCES : The Return of the IT Recruiter
Much to the relief of IT pros weather-beaten by pink slips, 2002-03 saw recruitments jump. But demand was restricted to those with experience, leaving freshers at sea. It was also the first year that overseas assignments found few takers |
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INDUSTRY ANALYSIS |
BPO : Runaway Growth, Positive Outlook
The BPO sector is the blue-eyed boy of the IT industry... It took on the backlash challenge, fought high attrition rates and emerged unscathed, with a growth rate of 59% |
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INDUSTRY ANALYSIS |
PERIPHERALS : Moving Along, but at Snail’s Pace
Despite distributors looking seriously at non-metro markets, 2002-03 was a lackluster year for peripherals. The biggest reasons—wafer-thin margins and bundling offers. Against this backdrop, consolidation is bound to happen |
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INDUSTRY ANALYSIS |
STORAGE : The Land Where it’s All About Data
While 9.11 may be over a year behind us, the global concerns it spawned—of disaster recovery and data replication—live on strong. Demand remained strong and Indian enterprises walked the data storage route, with final numbers up 9% |
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INDUSTRY ANALYSIS |
NETWORKING : Home...by a Whisker
An influx of banking, telecom, government and BPO orders in the latter half of the year came to the rescue—helping the industry show marginal growth |
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INDUSTRY ANALYSIS |
SECURITY : ...Of Worms, Viruses and Firewalls
In a year that saw a new high in security breaches worldwide, anti-virus software and firewalls ruled the market. But the future belongs to increased network security, and a shift away from software-based firewalls—toward hardware |
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INDUSTRY ANALYSIS |
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY : Indian IT Wakes Up to Patents
MNC development centers in India filed for 763 patents by March 2003, Indian IT services firms only for 82. The reasons lie in Indian IT’s history itself, a missing cultural context, and a traditional lack of understanding and respect for IP |
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INDUSTRY ANALYSIS |
PCs & DESKTOPS : Back in the Running
Upcountry strategies, roadshows and price-cutting—this space did it all in 2002-03. The rewards are clearly visible—a swing back to positive growth and inroads into the SOSB space. The silver lining—a 50% jump in notebook sales |
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INDUSTRY ANALYSIS |
SERVICES: Acquiring Character and Maturity
While numbers reflected a good year for domestic services, up 25% to Rs 8,809 cr, it was a change in character that marked the year. Differentiated services ruled the roost, with growth coming from infrastructure beef-up and expansion |
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