Software Sector Grows Cautiously; Reskilling Is New Mantra

Software Sector Grows Cautiously; Reskilling Is New Mantra

- Tushar K Mahanti

Leaving behind the uncertainty following large scale layoffs, India’s IT sector is slowly recovering its lost ground. The National Association of Software and Solutions Companies (Nasscom) has projected a revenue growth of 7-9% for the IT and BPO industry in 2018-19 notwithstanding global uncertainties and headwinds. The industry has recorded an estimated 7.8% revenue growth in 2017-18.

According to Nasscom president R.Chandrashekhar, the short-term prognosis for the global economy is good; US economy is doing well, which usually translates into greater IT spending. This would lead to higher export earnings for Indian IT industry. Export earnings are estimated to grow by 8.7% to $137 billion in 2018-19 from $126 billion in 2017-18. The overall IT-BPO industry size would be adding $14-16 billion, according to Nasscom.

Chandrashekhar has, however, appeared cautious and said that ‘old challenges’ continue and none of them have disappeared, some of them may have abated, while some others may have reduced in their magnitude of impact.

The industry is at the crusp of major transformation due to proliferation of advanced digital technologies like business analytics, cloud, mobility, internet of things (IoT), security, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and robotic process automation (RPA).