While Nasscom predicts that Internet of Things (IoT) is poised to be the "next big wave" as it will comprise 5 percent of global IT market and generate $15 billion by 2020, management consulting firm Zinnov reveals that IoT adoption will lead to 94,000 layoffs in the IT industry by 2021.
"Internet-of-things technology will impact 120,000 jobs in the country by 2021. 94,000 jobs will be eliminated, and 25,000 jobs will be created in the five-year period," Hardik Tiwari, engagement lead at Zinnov, told the Economic Times.
Businesses are increasingly adopting devices connected to the internet and IoT enables such connected devices to transfer data with one another. This is crucial as data analytics and business intelligence are gaining traction in the Indian IT sector.
Zinnov's report also notes that Indian corporate sector makes up 80 percent of Indian market's contribution of $1.6 billion to the global IoT market. India's contribution is expected to touch $7.3 billion by 2021.
Earlier, HfS Research, a US-based IT analyst firm, estimated that the Indian IT sector will witness 4,80,000 job cuts by 2021 owing to automation replacing process-oriented low-skilled tasks. Zinnov's projection comes in addition to the earlier estimates.
The Indian IT sector, which is undergoing a shift from outsourcing-based business model to digital services, will witness a decline in hiring and a spurt in job losses over the next few years due to rampant adoption of automation and IoT technologies if low-skilled workers are not trained in advanced skills.
IT firms had already trimmed hiring numbers by 25 percent to 77,365 people in 2015, according to brokerage firm Centrum Broking.
Nasscom, the apex IT industry association, had said that IT hiring will continue to drop for the current fiscal compared to the two lakh additions in the sector in 2015. In relative terms, 2015 IT hiring also dropped from the 2.20 lakh employees absorbed by the industry in 2014.
