Coronavirus impact: IT firms to record higher margins, create jobs, says Narayana Murthy

Co-founder of Infosys and IT industry doyen NR Narayana Murthy says the current pandemic has brought a lot of opportunities for the Indian IT sector, with the current work model providing an opportunity for Indian firms to become even more competitive.

Speaking at IET India Digital Conversations event, Murthy said that the current pandemic has helped Indian IT put in place the visa independent global delivery model (VIGDM) which is an improvement over the global delivery model. "I conceptualised the VIGDM at Infosys in 2013. This model eliminates the need for our software professionals to travel to customer's site on H1B visa. The leaders of IT companies have now accepted that we must maximise value add from India," he said. 

With companies now using virtual connect technologies to facilitate interactions between their customers and development staff in India, more and more development life cycle is being handled out of the country. With the current situation rendering challenges in mobility across the world, he said that it may help Indian IT companies create increased job opportunities.

Even with the thrust on local job creations in every nation of the world, the  cost of the software professionals in India still continues to be much lower than that in Europe or the US. "The overall cost of the software project will come down significantly, because there is maximum value from India. Therefore, our margins are likely to improve and we can become more competitive in the market," he added. 

Murthy also emphasised that this is perhaps the first time that the Indian leaders of the IT companies barring exceptions are welcoming the large use of data communications, technology in the development and maintenance life cycle. "There is greater appreciation by the leaders of the Indian IT companies to use technology not just in data communications, but even in areas like training and decision making software," he further added. 

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