India to spend Rs 36,800 cr on IT in 2013: Gartner

India is expected to spend Rs 36,800 crore (Rs 368 billion) on IT products and services in 2013, an increase of 10.5 per cent over 2012, research firm Gartner said on Monday.

This is against revenue of Rs 33,300 crore (Rs 333 billion) in 2012, which included spending by government organisations on internal IT (including personnel), hardware, software, external IT services and telecommunications, it said in a statement.

Telecommunications, which includes telecommunications and networking equipment and services, is expected to remain the largest overall spending category, it said.

It is expected to grow 6.8 per cent in 2013 to reach Rs 11,800 crore (Rs 118 billion) in 2013, up from Rs 11,100 crore (Rs 111 billion) in 2012, largely driven by enterprise network equipment.

Software sector is expected to register the highest growth rate amongst IT spending categories, increasing 18 per cent in 2013, led by investments in desktop software and infrastructure software.

"To expand the benefits of IT, GoI aims to invest more than Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) in expanding broadband penetration. The electronic chip making project, digitisation of academic databases across all educational institutions, vehicle registrations, driving licence databases etc will be the major focus areas", said Anurag Gupta, research director at Gartner.

The IT industry is expected to indirectly benefit from government projects like Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), launch of the National Optical Fibre Network and computerisation of commercial taxes in states.