Karnataka may no longer be a happening place for India's $150-billion IT industry from a hiring point of view. The number of jobs created in the state stood at 52,500 in 2016-17, far lower when compared to 2014-15, according to the state's IT minister Priyank Kharge.
The state employs about 1 million people directly in the sector and earned about Rs 2.20 lakh crores in 2015-16.
Read: Infosys, TCS to hire 40,000 employees; Infy COO Pravin Rao says job losses 'overstated'
On Monday, while speaking in the Karnataka assembly, Kharge said that jobs created in the IT sector stood at 61,500 in 2014-15 but dropped to 49,500 the next year before rising marginally to 52,500 in 2016-17.
Could H1-B be the culprit?
The News assume significance in the wake of IT companies hiring fewer people in India amid global uncertainty, H-1B visa row and reports of cuts in spending by clients.
The overall jobs created by the sector in India stood at 1,70,000 in 2016-17, according to Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar. The IT industry employs about 3.9 million people in India.
Infosys will be holding its 36th annual general meeting on Saturday (June 24) amid rumours of stake sale by founders and the company complaining about shareholder activism in its regulatory filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission last week.
