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NEW DELHI: India’s software services exports, excluding sales by overseas affiliates of Indian companies, grew 8.2 per cent year-on-year to $221.4 billion in 2025-26, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s latest survey on Computer Software and Information Technology Enabled Services Exports.
The United States remained the dominant destination, accounting for 54.1 per cent of the total, up from 52.9 per cent in the previous year.
Exports to the US rose 11 per cent to $119.7 billion during the year. Europe was the second-largest market with a 31.8 per cent share, of which the United Kingdom contributed 15.4 per cent.
Composition of Exports
Computer services continued to form the largest segment, accounting for 69.3 per cent of total software services exports. IT services exports within this category rose to $147 billion, while software product development declined slightly to $6.4 billion.
IT-enabled services (ITES) exports increased to $68 billion. Business process outsourcing remained the dominant component of ITES at $56 billion, or 82.4 per cent of the segment. Engineering services contributed $12 billion.
Delivery Mode and Organisational Structure
Off-site delivery continued to dominate, rising to $203 billion and accounting for 91.7 per cent of total software services exports. On-site services made up the remaining 8.3 per cent, with earnings from on-site work declining to $18.4 billion from $19 billion a year earlier.
Private limited companies accounted for 60.8 per cent of exports ($134.6 billion), while public limited companies contributed 36.9 per cent ($81.7 billion).
Including Overseas Presence
When sales through the overseas commercial presence of Indian companies are included, total software services exports rose 9.5 per cent to $239.3 billion. Cross-border supply (Mode 1) accounted for $202.7 billion, while commercial presence (Mode 3) contributed $17.9 billion. Software business by foreign affiliates of Indian companies locally increased to $17.9 billion.
Invoicing Currency
The US dollar remained the principal invoicing currency, accounting for 72.6 per cent of software export invoices. The euro’s share stood at 9.6 per cent, the pound sterling at 6 per cent, and the Indian rupee’s share declined to 6.3 per cent.
The RBI survey covered responses from 2,363 companies out of 7,569 contacted, representing approximately 89 per cent of the estimated total software services exports. The data reaffirm the continued centrality of the US market and the strong preference for remote delivery models in India’s software export industry.
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