The IT industry in Romania exceeded the value of 9 billion euros; in the next two years it will reach 12 million euros

By RBJ
The IT market in Romania exceeded the value of 9 billion euros, and in the next two years it could reach over 12 billion euros, according to the results of the latest market study carried out by the Employers’ Association of the Software and Services Industry (ANIS).
“We observe a continuous growth of the software and services market in Romania, the impact of the IT sector in the national gross domestic product reaching 7%. There are very high hopes regarding the further development of this segment, through the large digitization projects to be implemented at the level of the local economy. Thus, in the next two years, the value of the IT market in Romania would exceed 12 billion euros”, said Gabriela Mechea, ANIS executive director.
According to the quoted source, the IT market in Romania is dynamic and continuously growing, considering that, from a volume of 4.6 billion euros in 2015, it reached a value of 9 billion euros. The development of the IT market took place even in 2020, marked by the pandemic, when there was an increase in volume by 1.1 billion euros.
Compared to the general trend of economic growth in Romania, the IT segment has an annual growth rate three times higher, the percentage being 15-17% per year.
As for the volume of the telecommunications market, it recorded a somewhat more moderate increase, reaching from 4.5 billion euros in 2015 to 5.1 billion euros in 2020.
The value of IT & services exports
“And the value of exports from the field of IT & services has grown considerably, 2.5 times in the last 5 years. Thus, from the figure of 2.5 billion euros, exports reached a volume of 6 billion euros. In addition, the volume of exports of R&D (research and development) services has tripled in the same period of time, from 200 to 600 million euros”, the cited study states.
Exports from the field of telecommunications also registered a 35% increase in this time frame. Thus, from a volume of 566 million euros, the figure reached 870 million euros, and current estimates show future increases of 5% annually.
According to the ANIS study, large companies, with over 250 employees, have an important share in the software and IT services market, representing 47% of the total volume of business generated by the industry (4 billion euros). Medium companies (with 50-250 employees) represent 20% of the volume (1.8 billion euros), and small ones (with 2-49 employees) represent 27% of the total market volume (2.5 billion euros) ). Micro-enterprises (0-1 employees) currently represent 8% of the market volume (0.7 billion euros), and in their case there is a stable growth of approximately 100 million euros annually.
Two thirds of the total market volume is concentrated in Bucharest
“Almost two-thirds of the total market volume is concentrated in Bucharest (60%), followed by the North-West region, especially the area of ​​Cluj county (18%). The West (7%), North-East (6%), Center (5%) and South (4%) regions follow. However, there is also a decrease in the share of Bucharest in total, the Capital having 64% of the volume of the IT market in 2015. The Western Region, on the other hand, doubled its share in total between 2015 and 2020. The South is the only region of the country where decreases are recorded in the total weight of the software and services market volume”, reveals the quoted study.
Regarding the capital configuration, it remained stable at the national level, so that 64% of the IT companies have foreign capital, and 36% Romanian.
“The telecommunications market is stable and dominated by large companies. They own 84% (4.3 billion euros) of the total capital, and the rest is owned by medium-sized companies, with 4% (200 million euros), by small companies, with 10% (500 million euros) and by micro- enterprises, which have 2% of the total market (approximately 100 million euros).
The telecom market is strongly polarized in Bucharest, with 93% of the companies present on the market having their headquarters here.
How many companies are on the IT market
Currently, the IT market counts no less than 21,847 companies, with an increase of 60%. The most pronounced development took place in the area of ​​micro-enterprises, where a 78% increase in the number of companies was recorded in the last 5 years.
Also, in the telecom sector, on the other hand, there are 1,965 companies, observing a decrease of 15% compared to the number of active companies in 2015. The number of large companies remained stable, unlike that of small and medium-sized companies, which record declines.
The IT and services sector has 147,000 employees, the majority (47%) of large companies on the local market. About 27% of workers work in medium-sized companies, another 21% in small-sized companies, while only 6,525 employees work in micro-enterprises. At the level of the entire sector, however, a constant increase in the number of employees, of approximately 8-9,000 per year, is noted in the study carried out by ANIS.
The telecommunications sector is considerably smaller, with 40,000 employees, and there has been a decline in this segment. In the last 5 years, the number of people working in this industry has decreased by 10%, the cited analysis shows.
“The human capital in the two industries is a valuable one. As for the employees in the IT and services segment, each one produces approximately 60,000 euros annually, and the trend is increasing. Productivity in the telecom sector is even higher, reaching 100,000 euros per year, but rather being marked by constancy”, according to the study.
Regarding the number of IT specialists in the economy, the study shows a constant growth rate, of approximately 8-9,000 employees annually, this being correlated with the number of graduates from specialized faculties. The largest part of IT specialists in Romania (76%) has university education, and the remaining 48,000 workers have only pre-university education.
“The gender gap still remains significant in the IT&C market in Romania. Only 26% of all employees in this industry are women (53,000). In terms of age, 47% (95,000) of employees are between 16 and 34 years old, and 53% of them (108,000) are between 35 and 75 years old,” the cited study also shows.
Founded in 1998, ANIS represents the interests of Romanian IT companies and supports the development of the local software and services industry, the growth of both companies involved in outsourcing projects and those that generate intellectual property, through the creation of products. The association has over 175 members, both small and multinational companies, companies with Romanian or foreign capital, with headquarters in all the major IT centers in the country and over 47,000 employees.
ANIS has a turnover of over 3.87 billion euros, i.e. over 65% of the total revenues generated by the IT industry at the national level.
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