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IT export likely to grow at 8%; 1.5 lakh jobs in offing: Nasscom

Notwithstanding headwinds, Indian IT export is projected to grow by 7-8 per cent - the same rate as last year - while the domestic infotech industry is expected to expand at 10-11 per cent in 2017-18, Nasscom said in its guidance on Thursday.

The IT-BPM industry is expected to add 1.3-1.5 lakh new jobs during 2017-18, Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar told reporters here.

In the previous fiscal, the industry's net hiring stood at 1.7 lakh. Keeping in view the political and economic uncertainties in key overseas markets that impacted decision-making and discretionary spend, and also the performance of IT companies last year, the industry body expects the future outlook to be positive, he said. "We expect export revenues to grow by 7 to 8 per cent, not hugely different from last year (7.5%), notwithstanding the headwinds we talked about (H1-B visa curbs in US, protectionism and Brexit). The domestic segment is actually growing at slightly faster pace - that is 10 to 11 per cent in dollar terms.

"We definitely see the industry to be net hirer of as many as 1.3 to 1.5 lakh people in the year ahead. This industry continues to be a substantial hirer and a substantial creator of new jobs. At the same time, there is a churn in the industry too," Chandrashekhar said.

He said as the industry is currently driven by digital revolution, Nasscom has decided to re-skill about 1.5 to 2 million IT professionals to equip them for future requirements.

"Nasscom is working with its partners, members to establish a comprehensive digital platform. You will be hearing about this more during the months ahead. We expect 1.5 to 2 million people amongst the workforce to be re-skilled in the next four to five years."

The size of the Indian IT industry is pegged at $154 billion, including $11 billion incremental revenues added in the previous fiscal, according to Nasscom.

"Uncertainty impacted the businesses. Whether it is BFSI segment or healthcare, all segments confronted by the uncertainty delayed the decision-making in the quest for stability. That translated into low opportunities for IT industry," the Nasscom chief explained.
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