While there is much hue and cry over the outsourcing of services, industries with an annual tech spending (combined) of over $200 billion on IT, only 15 percent of the IT budget is spent on outsourcing of IT services and consulting, says a recent report. 

The report, InformationWeek 500, tracks the technology practices of America's most innovative companies across 21 industry verticals. The largest portion of IT budget i.e. 35 percent is allotted for the salaries and benefits of the employees working in the IT department, whereas purchase of new hardware and applications amounts to another 34 percent of the total revenue spent on IT.  

A meager 4 percent is earmarked for R&D in IT area in these verticals that include auto, BFSI, pharmaceuticals, IT, media and consumer goods to name some. 

In fact, the banking and financial services industry which has the highest percentage (6.3 percent) of worldwide annual sales revenue assigned for IT, the outsourcing budget is even less than the average industry standards.   

Interestingly, despite all the hype surrounding outsourcing, the budget allocation for the same hasn’t risen a bit over the past one last year when 35 percent of revenue was spent for salaries and only 15 percent for outsourcing.