IT Hiring To Get Slower In Future, says V Balakrishnan
Hiring in India's IT sector will be slower in future, says a senior figure in the technology field, who also did not sound optimistic about the industry achieving 7-8 per cent export growth in this fiscal. However, V Balakrishnan, Former Chief Financial Officer of Infosys is positive about the industry's growth prospects next year.
Balakrishnan believes the current financial year is going to be challenging on the growth front because of the events taking place in the developed markets.
He said, "Hiring has definitely slowed down. And automation is a big thing because three large companies have got net negative employee growth. So, this year is going to be challenging. Also Europe is doing reasonably well. So, on the export front the demand environment may look better next year but digital is becoming big and, so, the IT industry has to invest and make that transition smoothly.”
On whether the sector is on track to meet the 7 to 8 percent export growth projected by industry body NASSCOM, he said, "I don't know because most of the large companies are not growing at that pace. Even if you look at Infosys they have reduced their guidance. So, this year is going to be challenging on the growth front but probably next year demand could come back because developed markets are doing well.”
October-March period is challenging period for the industry because the growth is lower on account of lot of holidays in December; and January-March being financial year beginning for most global companies, the spending environment is challenging in that quarter.
He further added, "Most of the companies have become highly productive, utilisation levels have gone up and also automation is kicking in and, so, hiring is going to be slower for the IT industry for the years to come. Hiring trend is going to get slower."
