The total Information and Communication Technology (ICT) spending by Indian enterprises including hardware, software, telecommunications and IT services will touch Rs 1,09,300 crore in 2006.

The spending (excluding consumer IT spend) has been posting a growth of 20.8 per cent from 2004 through 2009; according to global research firm Gartner.

The Indian telecom sector with a Rs 73,900 crore spend on services and equipment in 2006 will top the charts, followed by Rs 17,200 crore spent on hardware followed by Rs 14,000 crore spent by IT services.

The software sector will be posting a total spend of Rs 14,100 crore on IT services and Rs 4,100 crore on software are the other spenders in ICT space, Gartner said.

Hardware industry spends will stay at around 13 per cent through 2004-05, totalling a whopping Rs 23,800 crore in 2009, while that of IT services would be around 18.9 per cent at Rs 22,400 crore and software spends will be around 15.6 per cent at Rs 6,200 crore would be the other top spenders in the country.

Meanwhile, Gartner has projected that total worldwide enterprise ICT spending (excluding internal IT spend on salaries) will reach $1,768 billion in 2006, which has been posting an annual growth rate of 4.5 per cent from 2004 through 2009.

The enterprise ICT spending in Asia Pacific will touch $210 billion in 2006, with an annual growth rate of 7.5 per cent over the same period.

On the top 10 trends and predictions for 2006, the study said the impact of consumer technologies on enterprise IT will continue to spread rapidly, despite attempts to slow them down or policies designed to discourage their use.

(http://www.business-standard.com)