IBM's India revenue grows 37%

IBM’s , revenue from India grew by 37% last year, mainly on India’s strong economic growth, including in industrial production.

Growth last year was lower than the 55% reported by IBM for 2005, but that was because the revenue base in 2004 was smaller, Shanker Annaswamy, IBM’s regional general manager for India and South Asia, told reporters in Bangalore on Thursday. Annaswamy did not disclose the revenue that IBM earned from India, citing company policy not to break down revenue by countries.

Revenue from India has grown faster in the last two years than in Brazil, Russia and China, Annaswamy said. The key markets in India were financial services, small and midsize businesses, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, automotive and government.

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IBM’s , revenue from India grew by 37% last year, mainly on India’s strong economic growth, including in industrial production.

Growth last year was lower than the 55% reported by IBM for 2005, but that was because the revenue base in 2004 was smaller, Shanker Annaswamy, IBM’s regional general manager for India and South Asia, told reporters in Bangalore on Thursday. Annaswamy did not disclose the revenue that IBM earned from India, citing company policy not to break down revenue by countries.

Revenue from India has grown faster in the last two years than in Brazil, Russia and China, Annaswamy said. The key markets in India were financial services, small and midsize businesses, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, automotive and government.

Besides being a large market for IBM, which has won a number of key outsourcing contracts from Indian customers, IBM also has a large global services delivery operation in India. The company had 53,000 staff on its rolls as of Jan.1, up from 38,500 a year earlier.

IBM’s Chairman and CEO Samuel Palmisano announced last year in Bangalore, India, that the company will be investing $6 billion in India over the next three years. The new investment will go primarily for staff costs, new service facilities and on education programs, the company said.

A large number of multinational services companies are expanding in India to take advantage of its low-cost work force. But increased demand is pushing up salaries, and making it difficult to hire quality staff. IBM is aware of the challenge and is working with educational institutions to train staff, Annaswamy said. IBM trained about 60,000 staff last year on IBM’s technologies, he added.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.