Mumbai: Driven by a surge in digital transformation owing to the pandemic, the IT spending in India is forecast to total $101.8 billion in 2022, an increase of 7 percent from 2021, global market research firm Gartner said on Wednesday.

In 2022, all segments of IT spending in India are expected to grow, with software emerging as the highest growing segment.

Spending on software is forecast to total $10.5 billion in 2022, up 14.4 percent from 2021.

While experiencing a slower growth rate than 2021, spending on software in 2022 is forecast to be nearly double what it was pre-pandemic.

"India has experienced one of the fastest recoveries despite being one of the worst-hit regions in the second wave of the pandemic in early 2021," said Arup Roy, research vice president at Gartner.

As hybrid work adoption increases in the country, there will be an uptick in spending on devices in 2022, reaching $44 billion, an increase of 7.5 percent from 2021.

"The growth in devices is a combination of two components – hybrid work and pent-up demand from 2020 for device upgrades," said Roy. "Spending on devices will make up 43 percent of total IT spending next year."

Next year, Indian CIOs are prioritizing a move away from rigid and monolithic ways of doing business to a more composable business and IT architecture where they will be able to better respond to disruptions.

"In 2022, CIOs in India will build on renewed interest in technology from the business to gain funding for new IT projects," said Roy.