India’s exports of software and IT-enabled services rose 9.5 percent in the financial year 2025-26 to $239.3 billion, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s annual survey, released on Friday, 18 September 2026. The wire agency IANS carried the figures, and The Signal and Biz Development News reported them.
That headline number counts services delivered through the overseas arms of Indian companies. Strip those out and the picture is a little smaller: software services exports sold directly came to $221.4 billion, up 8.2 percent on the year.
Where the money comes from
Computer services made up more than two-thirds of India’s software services exports. Business process outsourcing was the main part of the IT-enabled side, and Biz Development News noted that finance and accounting work forms a large piece of it.
The United States stayed the biggest customer, taking 54.1 percent of the total. Europe took 31.8 percent, and the United Kingdom alone accounted for 15.4 percent. The Signal points out that the US share is a recovery rather than a record: it had slipped to 52.9 percent in the previous year’s survey after standing at 54.1 percent in 2023-24.
The dollar dominated invoicing at 72.6 percent of export transactions. The euro followed with 9.6 percent, the Indian rupee with 6.3 percent and the British pound with 6 percent. About 91.7 percent of software services exports were delivered off-site, meaning the work was done from India without staff at the client.
One line went backwards
Almost every category in the RBI table grew. Software product development did not. It fell from $6.8 billion, a 3.3 percent share of software exports, in 2024-25 to $6.4 billion, a 2.9 percent share, in 2025-26. The Signal described it as the only sub-category to shrink in dollar terms, and a small one next to a total this large. This is the line that tracks India selling finished software it owns, as opposed to the hours of the people who write it.
The wider services picture was strong too. Citing a reply by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in the Rajya Sabha, based on RBI data, The Signal reported that India’s total services exports reached a record $421.3 billion in 2025-26. Telecommunications, computer and information services were the largest contributor at $206.6 billion, a 49.03 percent share.
How the survey was done
The RBI’s survey covered 7,569 software-export companies, and 2,363 of them responded. Those respondents included most of the large firms and represented around 89 per cent of estimated total software services exports, Biz Development News said.
Earlier rounds put the total, including foreign-affiliate delivery, at $200.6 billion in 2022-23 and $205.2 billion in 2023-24.
Sources
- India's Software Exports Hit a Record While Product Sales Slipped | The Signal
- India’s IT Export Engine Crosses USD 239 Billion as Globa… | Biz Development News
