India's green IT, sustainability spend to reach $70 b by 2015

India's spending on green IT and sustainability initiatives will double from $35 billion in 2010 to $70 billion in 2015, according to Gartner, Inc., a leading IT research and advisory company.

In its report “Hype cycle for green IT and sustainability in India, 2011,” Gartner said green IT and sustainability have found their way into the IT organisations of many industries in India. Although still buzzwords for many, they will soon emerge as top priorities for businesses, investors and technology professionals across industries and policymakers in India.

“India's information and communication technology (ICT) industry will be an early adopter of green IT and sustainability solutions as India is one of the fastest-growing markets in terms of IT hardware and communications infrastructure consumption,” said Ganesh Ramamoorthy, research director at Gartner. “As enterprises embrace IT to improve productivity and drive growth, penetration of ICT infrastructure has been growing rapidly during the past decade, as has the energy consumption and resulting carbon emissions of India's ICT infrastructure”.

Apart from the ICT industry, the banking and financial services, hospitality, manufacturing (such as automobiles), pharmaceuticals, and other industries that have significant exposure to the export markets, will join the green IT and sustainability trend early in India. In other industries, addressing energy, carbon, resource efficiency and sustainable economic development is currently still in the early stages. “Indian businesses will initially start adapting solutions that have been tried and tested in developed nations, but tailored to the Indian market's needs and conditions. However, the unique challenges faced by India, such as an unreliable power infrastructure, a growing urban-rural divide, and increasing population migration to urban areas, will also provide businesses with the opportunity to innovate and test new cost-effective approaches and green technology solutions.
“While awareness of green IT and sustainability issues is low in Indian organisations, the increasing global focus on energy efficiency, energy security and green IT and sustainability issues is now causing the executive leadership in the technology sector to track, report and manage sustainable and resource-efficient business practices. Simultaneously, operational cost of making energy-efficient resources available is pressuring CIOs in Indian companies to develop strategies to optimise ICT utilisation, including companywide energy management, while not compromising on growth or deployment of newer technologies,” Mr. Ramamoorthy said. “We are already beginning to see the use of energy-efficient technology in data centres, manufacturing facilities and public buildings in India. While home energy management solutions in residences are still in the early stages, they are increasingly tested in newly-built urban areas and gated communities”.