India’s software exports grow 8.2% to $221.4 billion in FY26, US share rises | Today’s news
India’s software services exports rose 8.2% year-on-year to $221.4 billion in 2025-26, with the US continuing to account for more than half of the country’s software exports, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s annual survey released on Friday.
The RBI Survey on Computer Software and Information Technology Exports: 2025-26 showed that exports of software services, excluding sales through overseas business presence of Indian companies, rose from $204.7 billion in 2024-25 to $221.4 billion in 2025-26.
The survey included exports by type of activity, method of delivery, destination and method of supply.
IT leads
Computer services remained the largest component, accounting for 69.3% of total software services exports in 2025–26, up from 67.4% a year earlier. Within computer services, IT services exports rose to $147 billion from $131.3 billion, while software product development exports fell to $6.4 billion from $6.8 billion.
Exports of IT-enabled services (ITES) rose to $68 billion in 2025-26 from $66.6 billion in the previous year. Business process outsourcing (BPO) services continued to dominate ITES, accounting for $56 billion or 82.4% of ITES exports. Engineering services contributed $12 billion, up from $10.8 billion in 2024-25.
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USA dominates
The US remained the largest destination for India’s software exports, with its share rising to 54.1% in 2025-26 from 52.9% a year earlier. Software exports to the US totaled $119.7 billion.
Europe was the second largest destination, accounting for 31.8% of exports, with the UK contributing a 15.4% share.
The concentration of exports to the USA and Europe was accompanied by the continued dominance of the US dollar in invoicing. The dollar accounted for 72.6% of software export invoices in 2025-26, up from 72% the previous year. The euro accounted for 9.6%, while the rupee’s share fell to 6.3% from 7.1%. The pound sterling represented 6%.
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Exports of software services continued to be predominantly delivered through off-site services. Off-site exports rose to $203 billion in 2025-26 and accounted for 91.7% of total software services exports, compared to a 90.7% share in 2024-25. On-site services made up the remaining 8.3%.
Limited liability companies remained the largest organizational category, accounting for 60.8% of software services exports in 2025–26. Their exports rose to $134.6 billion from $123.1 billion a year earlier.
Joint stock companies accounted for 36.9% with exports of $81.7 billion.
Presence abroad
Including services provided through the overseas business presence of Indian companies, total software services exports increased by 9.5% to $239.3 billion in 2025-26 from $218.6 billion in the previous year.
Cross-border supply, or mode 1, accounted for $202.7 billion, while commercial presence, or mode 3, contributed $17.9 billion.
The survey also captured the growing role of foreign branches of Indian companies. These affiliates’ software business locally grew to $17.9 billion in 2025-26 from $13.9 billion the previous year, with the US and UK remaining the top destinations.
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For the 2025-26 survey, RBI approached 7,569 software exporting companies out of which 2,363 companies responded. The participating companies accounted for approximately 89% of the total estimated exports of software services.
