SMBs can account for 30 per cent of India's Public Cloud market: Nasscom

In a survey of over 1,000 SMBs in India, 60 per cent said they are already using Cloud, though almost half are at early stages of adoption, said the report titled "SMB Cloud Adoption in India: Towards a Cloud First nation."

India's Public Cloud market stands at Rs 170 billion in fiscal 2020 and is growing at approximately 30 per cent compound annual growth rate till FY2025 to reach Rs 630 billion, Nasscom said.

"As India aims to become a Cloud-first nation and with the government's push for Cloud adoption by MSMEs, it will be crucial for SMBs in India to think of themselves as digital enterprises and lead the E-revolution for India," Debjani Ghosh, President, Nasscom, said in a statement.

The research showed that best in class SMBs that adopted Cloud have been able to drive 25-30 per cent productivity improvement and 15-20 per cent reduction in operational costs.

More than 50 per cent of the respondents cited lack of management support, talent and capital as key constraints for Cloud adoption.

The report said that progressive policies and awareness programmes can accelerate cloud adoption at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has already fast-tracked digital transformation of companies across all verticals.

SMBs are the backbone of India's economy. In fiscal 2019, they accounted for $952 billion in revenue which translates to 34 per cent share in GDP and employed 110 million people, second only to agriculture, Nasscom said.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted the SMB segment and they have struggled with liquidity crunch, lack of demand and lack of an alternative operational model.

SMBs that have an online presence have shown greater resilience and are expected to see short-term revenue gain, said the Nasscom report.