MANU/RPRL/0256/2016

Ministry : Reserve Bank of India

Department/Board : RBI

Press Release No. : 2016-2017/981

Date : 20.10.2016

Survey on Computer Software and Information Technology Enabled Services Exports: 2015-16

The Reserve Bank of India today released, on its website, the data¹ related to the 2015-16 round of the 'Survey on Computer Software and Information Technology Enabled Services Exports'. The survey collects the dimensions of the export of software services as per the nature of activity, type of services (on-site/off-site) and country of destination along with the modes of supply. For the 2015-16 survey round, nearly 7,200 IT companies were contacted of which 1,162 companies, including most of the large companies, responded. The responding companies accounted for around 77.6 per cent of the total software exports during the year. Exports of the remaining companies (mostly small) were estimated using the related distribution patterns after categorising them in four groups, viz., IT services, BPO services, engineering services and software product development. The survey schedule is enclosed in the Annex.

Main Findings:

• Software and ITES/BPO services exports: India's total export of computer services and ITES/BPO services (excluding commercial presence) during 2015-16 is estimated at ` 5,763.1 billion (US$ 88.0 billion), registering 7.3 per cent growth in US $ terms over the previous year. Exports of 'computer services' and 'ITES/BPO services' contributed for 71.2 per cent and 28.8 per cent, respectively, of the total software services exports. Public limited companies accounted for 54.4 per cent share of the total software services exports (Tables 1, 2 & 3).

• Country/Currency Distribution: 'USA & Canada' continued as the top destination and accounted for nearly 62 per cent in the total export of software services during 2015-16. Europe had nearly 24 per cent share, where the UK had nearly half the share. US Dollar was the invoice currency for nearly three-fourths of the software exports followed by Pound Sterling and Euro (Tables 4 & 5).

• On-site/Off-site/Modes of Supply: Off-site mode continued to account for nearly 80 per cent of the software export in 2015-16 and on-site mode accounted for the remaining 20 per cent. During the year, the share of export of software services through Mode-3 (commercial presence) increased whereas the shares of both Mode-1 (cross-border supply) and Mode-4 (presence of natural person) declined (Ta........