Official: Russian authorities, state cos buy soft for 200 bln rbl/yr

MOSCOW, May 23 (PRIME) -- Russian state authorities and state companies annually purchase software for 200 billion rubles, or 27% of the country’s total IT market, Dmitry Chernov, director of the high technologies development department at the Communications and Mass Media Ministry, said Monday at a forum.

“Under the federal law (on purchases of state and municipal authorities) we have 93 billion rubles, or 44%, and almost the same amount – 118 billion rubles – bought under the federal law (on state companies’ acquisitions). We are discussing purchases for about 200 billion rubles (under the lower estimate),” Chernov said.

“The Russian IT market amounts to some 750 billion rubles and employs more than 400,000 people. And domestic software accounts for 23% in these contracts.”

The law, in force since January 1, obliges state authorities to prefer domestic software products, if they are available, to foreign analogues. The ministry created a register of domestic software, and the list now has 979 products from 270 companies.

“It is not many, because we had expected a soaring number of products in the register as the market has more than 5,000 companies,” Chernov said.

The ministry expects the register to include at least 2,500 products from about 1,000 firms by the end of 2016.

“The introduction of the register saw positive moves. According to the Economic Development Ministry, at present the number of contracts for the purchase of domestic software from the register is 2.2 times higher than a year earlier. It proves the process is well under way,” Chernov said.

(66.3775 rubles – U.S. $1)

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