'Healthcare industry's IT spend to grow 3.4% to $1.2 billion'

Mumbai: Healthcare providers in the country are expected to witness a marginal 3.4 percent uptick in their IT spend at USD 1.2 billion this year, Global consultancy firm Gartner on Monday said.

"Healthcare providers in India are expected to spend USD 1.2 billion on IT products and services in 2016, an increase of 3.4 per cent over 2015," Gartner said in a note.

This includes spending by hospitals, hospital systems, nursing and residential care, university hospitals on internal services, software, IT services, data center systems, devices and telecom services, it added.

Gartner's Principal Research Analyst Moutusi Sau said IT service, which includes consulting, software support, implementation, hardware, IT outsourcing (ITO) and business process outsourcing (BPO), will be the largest sub-category with spend of USD 339 million, up 5.2 per cent.

From a growth perspective, BPO segment would witness the fastest pace with an estimate of 15.4 per cent, the note said, without sharing an absolute figure.

Software market is expected to grow 6 per cent in 2016 to reach USD 106 million, up from USD 100 million in 2015, while infrastructure would grow 4.5 per cent in 2016 to reach USD 43 million, it said.

The ITO is expected to be the largest sub-segment in IT services, with a 7.5 per cent increase to reach USD 107 million in 2016, it said.