Information Technology (IT) and IT-Enabled Services

Information Technology (IT) and IT-enabled services (ITeS) — software development, business process outsourcing (BPO), knowledge process outsourcing (KPO), and related digital services — represent the part of India's tertiary sector that has grown the fastest since the 1990s and has the strongest export orientation of any Indian service industry. Indian IT firms provide software development, technical support and back-office processing services to clients across the world, and IT/ITeS exports have become one of India's largest sources of foreign exchange earnings, alongside merchandise exports and remittances.

The growth of this sub-sector rests on a few identifiable advantages: a large pool of English-speaking, technically trained graduates; comparatively lower wage costs relative to developed countries for a similar skill level; and continual improvement in telecommunications infrastructure that allows work to be delivered digitally across time zones. Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune and the National Capital Region have traditionally been the largest IT hubs, but the industry has been actively expanding into other cities as well, including growing IT and IT-enabled services activity within Andhra Pradesh's own urban centres such as Visakhapatnam, as the state has sought to diversify its economy beyond agriculture and traditional industry. …