Nasscom projects USD 9-12 bn software products revenue by 2015

Indian software product segment is set for a phenomenal growth over the next seven years to post usd .5-12 billion aggregate annual revenue by fiscal 2015 from USD 1.4 billion in fiscal 2008, according to an industry body.

"The product segment in India has the potential to grow 10 times its current size and post $9.5-12 billion over the next decade," Som Mittal, president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), said here Monday.

Releasing the findings of the 'Nasscom software product study: Outlook for Indian software product businesses', Mittal said the next decade would be crucial for disruptive growth of the product segment, as evident from market trends, which are aided by a maturing ecosystem.

"The Indian software product business is nearing an inflection point in its evolution and now is the time to bring about disruption. Enterprise application software holds huge opportunities with business intelligence, enterprise resource management (ERM) with storage and security being the priorities," Mittal told reporters at the trade forum's second annual product conclave.

The main factor that will propel the segment is India's emergence as a global hub for product research and developement activity and the presence of about 600 multinationals in the product space through their Indian subsidiaries.

"The Indian software product business has grown at an average of 44 percent over the last three years," Mittal said.

The study found that of the 371 software product start-ups in the country, two-thirds of them were set up during the last three years, including 100 firms last year.

"Top 10 firms continue to dominate, accounting for 84 percent of the segment revenue. About 200 midsize firms and start-ups are generating revenues and contributing to the growth," Mittal noted.

Nasscom chairman and Zensar managing director Ganesh Natarajan said the Indian product industry had come of age with world class IP in key domains and end-to-end design and development services to global ISVs (independent software vendors) by captive and third-party units across the country.

"With the new models such as SoA (service-oriented architecture) and SaaS (software as a service) maturing, opportunities beckon Indian product developers to pitch for the global market with access to multi-level funding," Natarajan said

Another sign of an explosive growth in the product segment is the presence of 38 incubation centres across the country for technology start-ups with funding and mentorship.

Of the total venture capital investment of $543 million in 2007, $156 million were invested in software products segment from a mere $76 million in 2005.