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Date : Mar 16, 2021
Survey on Computer Software and Information Technology- Enabled Services Exports: 2019-20

Today, the Reserve Bank of India released the data related to the 2019-20 round of its annual survey on exports of computer software and information technology enabled services.

The survey collects details on India’s exports of software services (computer services and information technology enabled services (ITES)/business process outsourcing (BPO) services) as per type of activity, on-site/off-site nature of services, country of destination and four modes of supply. The survey schedule is given in the Annex.

For the 2019-20 round of the survey, 6078 software export companies were contacted, of which 1475 companies responded, which included most of the large companies. The responding companies accounted for around 82.7 per cent of the total software services exports2 during the year (Table 1).

Highlights:

  • India’s export of software services stood at US$ 128.6 billion during 2019-20, registering 9.1 per cent growth over the previous year (Table 2).

  • Exports of computer services and ITES/BPO services contributed 66.6 per cent and 33.4 per cent, respectively, of the total software services exports (Table 2).

  • Among the BPO services exports, the share of business consulting services including public relations services increased during the year (Table 3).

  • Private limited companies accounted for more than half of the total export of software services (Table 4).

  • The USA was the major destination for software exports with 56.6 per cent share. Europe had 27.6 per cent share, nearly half of which was in the UK (Table 5).

  • The US dollar was the principal invoicing currency for software exports with 71.6 per cent share. Euro and pound sterling together accounted for another 16.7 per cent (Table 6).

  • The off-site mode remained the preferred mode of delivery of the total export of software services (Table 7).

  • The share of exports of software services through the cross-border supply mode increased during the year; other three modes of delivery (viz., consumption abroad; commercial presence; and presence of natural persons) together accounted for 24.9 per cent (Table 8).

  • Software exports by foreign affiliates through commercial presence, where the USA and the UK were major destination, stood at US$ 16.6 billion in 2019-20 and total exports of software services by India, including the services delivered by foreign affiliates are estimated at US$ 145.2 billion (Tables 9 and 10).

Ajit Prasad
Director   

Press Release: 2020-2021/1251

Table 1: Survey Response and Final Estimates for 2019-20 – A Snapshot
(₹ crore)
Item Reported^ Final Estimates **
(1) (2)
1. No. of companies 1,475 6,078
2. Total Exports of Software Services 753,935 911,702
    2.1 IT services 483,122 571,712
    2.2 Software Product Development 27,618 35,491
    2.3 BPO Services 185,814 236,172
    2.4 Engineering Services 57,381 68,327
3. Total Exports of Software Services (including commercial presence) 871,524 1,029,365
    3.1 Mode 1 (cross-border supply) 639,146 772,967
    3.2 Mode 2 (consumption abroad) 509 616
    3.3 Mode 3 (commercial presence) 117,662 117,662
    3.4 Mode 4 (presence of natural person) 114,207 138,120
^ Response by the largest 20 companies ensured industry representation in the survey coverage.
** The details of the estimation methodology are published in the article presenting the survey results for 2016-17 round in March 2018 issue of the Reserve Bank of India Bulletin.

Table 2: Software Services Export from India
Activity 2018-19 2019-20
₹ crore US $ billion* Share (%) ₹ crore US $ billion* Share (%)
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
A). Computer Services 558,049 79.8 67.7 607,203 85.7 66.6
Of which: i) IT services 532,863 76.2 64.6 571,712 80.7 62.7
               ii) Software Product Development 25,186 3.6 3.1 35,491 5.0 3.9
B). IT Enabled Services 266,196 38.1 32.3 304,499 42.9 33.4
Of which: i) BPO Services 204,814 29.3 24.8 236,172 33.3 25.9
               ii) Engineering Services 61,382 8.8 7.5 68,327 9.6 7.5
Total Export of Software Services (A+B) 824,245 117.9 100.0 911,702 128.6 100.0
Note: The sum of components may differ from total due to rounding off.
* Using annual average Rupee/Dollar exchange rate.
These footnotes are applicable for all other tables also.

Table 3: Industry-wise Distribution of ITES/BPO Services Exports
Activity 2018-19 2019-20
₹ crore US $ billion* Share (%) ₹ crore US $ billion* Share (%)
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
BPO Services 204,814 29.3 77.0 236,172 33.3 77.6
Business consulting services including public relations services 17,555 2.5 6.6 30,646 4.3 10.1
Finance and Accounting auditing book keeping and tax consulting service 36,142 5.2 13.6 41,867 5.9 13.7
HR Administration 1,291 0.2 0.5 1,527 0.2 0.5
Supply chain and other management services/ logistics 709 0.1 0.3 1,211 0.2 0.4
Medical transcription and document management 667 0.1 0.3 4,172 0.6 1.4
Content development and management and publishing 3,732 0.5 1.4 2,179 0.3 0.7
Other BPO services 144,718 20.7 54.3 154,570 21.8 50.8
Engineering Services 61,382 8.8 23.0 68,327 9.6 22.4
Embedded Solutions 7,267 1.0 2.7 7,198 1.0 2.4
Product Design Engineering (mechanical electronics excluding software) 20,983 3.0 7.9 25,350 3.6 8.3
Industrial automation and enterprise asset management 1,365 0.2 0.5 1,811 0.3 0.6
Other Engineering services 31,767 4.6 11.9 33,968 4.7 11.1
Total 266,196 38.1 100.0 304,499 42.9 100.0

Table 4: Organisation-wise Distribution of Software Services Exports
Types of Organisation 2018-19 2019-20
₹ crore US $ billion* Share (%) ₹ crore US $ billion* Share (%)
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
Private Limited Company 424,834 60.8 51.5 477,264 67.3 52.3
Public Limited Company 392,618 56.1 47.6 425,027 60.0 46.6
Others# 6,793 1.0 0.9 9,411 1.3 1.1
Total 824,245 117.9 100.0 911,702 128.6 100.0
# Others include mostly Limited Liability Partnership (LLPs)/proprietor firms.

Table 5: Software Services Exports – Major Destination
Activity 2018-19 2019-20
₹ crore US $ billion* Share (%) ₹ crore US $ billion* Share (%)
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
USA and Canada 504,273 72.1 61.2 529,334 74.7 58.1
Europe 211,007 30.2 25.6 251,812 35.5 27.6
    of which, UK 96,766 13.8 11.7 122,259 17.2 13.4
Asia 56,131 8.0 6.8 64,183 9.1 7.0
    of which, East Asia 47,064 6.7 5.7 54,246 7.7 5.9
                   West Asia 6,347 0.9 0.8 7,202 1.0 0.8
                   South Asia 2,720 0.4 0.3 2,735 0.4 0.3
Australia and New Zealand 27,612 3.9 3.4 27,625 3.9 3.0
Other countries 25,222 3.7 3.0 38,748 5.4 4.3
Total 824,245 117.9 100.0 911,702 128.6 100.0

Table 6: Software Services Exports - Currency Composition of Invoice
Currency 2018-19 2019-20
₹ crore US $ billion* Share (%) ₹ crore US $ billion* Share (%)
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
United States Dollar (USD) 594,534 85.0 72.1 652,730 92.1 71.6
Euro (EUR) 79,114 11.3 9.6 85,543 12.1 9.4
British pound sterling (GBP) 55,399 7.9 6.7 66,253 9.3 7.3
Indian Rupee (INR) 37,322 5.3 4.5 44,037 6.2 4.8
Australian Dollar (AUD) 24,168 3.5 2.9 23,685 3.3 2.6
Other Currencies 33,708 4.9 4.2 39,454 5.6 4.3
Total 824,245 117.9 100.0 911,702 128.6 100.0

Table 7: Software Services Exports – Type of Services-wise
Type of Services 2018-19 2019-20
₹ crore US $ billion* Share (%) ₹ crore US $ billion* Share (%)
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
On-site services 127,795 18.3 15.5 138,120 19.5 15.1
Off-site services 696,450 99.6 84.5 773,582 109.1 84.9
Total 824,245 117.9 100.0 911,702 128.6 100.0

Table 8: Mode-wise Exports of Software Services
Type of Mode 2018-19 2019-20
₹ crore US $ billion* Share (%) ₹ crore US $ billion* Share (%)
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
Mode 1 (cross-border supply) 696,127 99.6 74.0 772,967 109.0 75.1
Mode 2 (consumption abroad) 323 0.0 0.0 616 0.1 0.1
Mode 3 (commercial presence) 116,517 16.7 12.4 117,662 16.6 11.4
Mode 4 (presence of natural person) 127,795 18.3 13.6 138,120 19.5 13.4
Total 940,762 134.5 100.0 1,029,365 145.2 100.0

Table 9: Software Business by Foreign Affiliates of Indian Companies during 2019-20 ─ Activity Distribution
(amount in ₹ crore)
Activity Locally To India Other Countries
(1) (2) (3)
IT services 9,083 722 1,203
Software product development 511 59 92
BPO services 8,526 263 1,910
Engineering services 549 31 2
Other services 98,993 18,450 26,455
Total (₹ billion) 117,662 19,525 29,662
Total (US $ billion*) 16.6 2.8 4.2

Table 10: Software Business by Foreign Affiliates of Indian Companies during 2019-20 Country Distribution
(amount in ₹ crore)
Country Share in Total Software business by foreign affiliates (%) Software business by foreign affiliates
Locally To India Other Countries
(1) (2) (3) (4)
United State of America 47.1 55,980 16,261 6,296
United Kingdom 14.3 12,222 351 11,352
Canada 5.1 7,528 109 943
Germany 5.0 6,670 117 1,608
Netherlands 4.8 6,621 48 1,350
Singapore 3.9 4,515 352 1,634
Other Countries 19.8 24,126 2,287 6,479
Total 100.0 117,662 19,525 29,662

1 The previous data release in the series, covering 2018-19 survey round, was published on November 18, 2019 on the RBI website.

2 Exports of the relatively small non-responding companies were estimated by imposing the distribution pattern of the reporting companies.

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