On the eve of three-year completion in office, the Narendra Modi government is apparently in damage-control mode, at least when it comes to the crisis facing the IT industry and jobs at stake. On Tuesday, one of his ministers handling the IT and electronics portfolio sought to shrug off layoff reports.
"I completely deny and refute that there is any downturn in the employment in the IT sector. It is robust. Once the digital economy is here, you will see how much it will progress," Ravi Shankar Prasad said during an interaction with reporters in New Delhi, reports news agency IANS.
"Indian IT companies are spread across 200 cities and 80 countries around the world, which provide direct employment to 40 lakh people and indirect employment to almost 1.3 crore people. As the industry is moving forward, it is Nasscom's assessment that in the coming four to five years, almost 20-25 lakh additional jobs will be created," he added.
The BJP-led NDA came to power in 2014 and was formally sworn in on May 26 that year, dethroning the Congress-led UPA that stayed in power for 10 years.
In a statement, his ministry said that contrary to shrinking job opportunities in the sector as portrayed by the media, the sector added 1.7 lakh employees during 2016-17 and six lakh in the past three years.
India's IT/ITeS sector employs about 3.9 million people, but is currently facing headwinds in the form of rising automation posing a threat to routine jobs, apart from its main market — the US — tightening norms that could hit the industry's approximately 60 percent revenues.
Many Indian IT companies such as Tech Mahindra, Wipro and Infosys are apparently contemplating laying off employees in large numbers though the figures are not confirmed.
Launched with much fanfare, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's twin initiatives — Start Up India and Stand Up India — too haven't much to show in terms of job creation.
"Indian technology startups employed 95,000 to 100,000 IT professionals, across more than 4,750 startups (including ecommerce and hyperlocals)," the ministry said, citing Nasscom data. This is woefully inadequate in a country that is producing young graduates in millions.
