point
The Smart Techie was renamed Siliconindia India Edition starting Feb 2012 to continue the nearly two decade track record of excellence of our US edition.

Indian IT to cut 1 lakh jobs in 6 months; Will require 3.5 Million by ’20!

ST Team
Saturday, May 2, 2009
ST Team
More than one lakh people employed by IT firms in India are likely to be forced out by using stringent yardsticks of performance in the next six months. With over 22 lakh people employed in the industry, this series of lay offs, due to persisting fall in global demands, will affect five percent of the total IT workforce in the country. On the contrary, another study indicates that there is going to be a conspicuous dearth of 3.5 million employees in the Indian IT arena by 2020.

“We expect the IT industry to see 3-5 percent non-voluntary exits in the first two quarters of the financial year, mainly in senior and middle levels,” says P Thiruvengadam, Sr. Director of Management Consultancy Services at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

Nasscom estimates that currently more than 22 lakh people are working in the Indian IT-BPO sector, while indirect job creation may be about eight million.

However, some experts believe that Indian IT is not yet in a dire strait. C.S. Venkata Ratnam, Director, International Management Institute (IMI) thinks that the sector is better off but it may see 4-5 percent job losses in the first two quarters of this fiscal. Moreover, a study by the global consultancy firm Mckinsey and the IT industry body Nasscom says that India’s technology and services industry will continue to expand and could face an employee shortage of up to 3.5 million by 2020.

The study titled ‘Perspective 2020’ further says that the sector will earn $225 billion in revenues by that time despite the current global economic crisis. Of this, $175 billion is expected from exports and the remaining from domestic sources.


Share on Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Share on facebook