New Delhi, Jan 27 : Global software intelligence leader CAST on Monday said that it believes technical debt is India's most pressing tech challenge in its pursuit of becoming a global technology powerhouse.

'India understands software better than any other country,' said Vincent Delaroche, founder and CEO of CAST, during his recent visit to India.

'As the country moves toward its ambitious target of becoming a $1 trillion digital economy by 2030, addressing software complexities, including the significant burden of technical debt, is vital to sustaining this growth trajectory,' he added.

Technical debt, defined as the accumulation of outdated or inefficient code, imposes a global cost of over $1.3 trillion annually, according to McKinsey, and India is no exception.

As one of the fastest-growing IT ecosystems globally, Indian enterprises face the dual challenge of modernising legacy systems while delivering scalable and secure software solutions.

'Technical debt is more than a bottleneck. It's an unseen cost that undermines agility and innovation,' Delaroche explained. 'CAST equips Indian enterprises with the tools to identify and eliminate inefficiencies, helping them maintain a competitive edge in the global tech arena.'

India's IT sector, contributing over $245 billion annually to the global economy (as per Nasscom data), is a key driver of innovation. Delaroche emphasized India's pivotal role, citing the country's 5.2 million-strong developer workforce, the largest globally, as a critical enabler of CAST's global ambitions.

'India's developer talent pool is unmatched, and we view them as essential partners in achieving our vision,' he said. 'We are committed to empowering Indian enterprises and Global Capability Centers (GCCs) by reducing technical debt, optimizing IT infrastructure, and boosting developer productivity by up to 25 per cent, significantly improving software delivery timelines'a critical factor for achieving efficient business outcomes.'

CAST, a privately held company majority-owned by Bridgepoint, a leading FTSE 250 investment firm, has invested $200 million in research and development over the past two decades to support its software intelligence solutions.

These solutions provide a holistic analysis of software systems, addressing key aspects such as technical debt, cloud readiness, security vulnerabilities, and system efficiency.

With a global presence in nine countries and strong partnerships with industry giants such as BCG, EY, Accenture, IBM Consulting, AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, CAST's software is deployed by hundreds of companies, top management consultancies, the 10 largest system integrators, and all three major cloud vendors.

/IANS