There is some comforting news from
Nasscom , Indian IT's lobby body. The tech industry would add at least 200,000 to its workforce of 2.8 million in fiscal year 2013. Cumulatively, IT firms have already made about 100,000 campus offers for the next fiscal year thus far.
While the number is lower than this fiscal's hiring of 230,000, Nasscom's spokespeople did a good job of painting a bright picture during a press conference in Mumbai on Monday. The number tells that all is not wrong with the industry; it also points to a double-digit growth, albeit lower than what the industry would manage in FY12.
While there are enough headwinds in 2012 - elections in the US and India, leadership change in China and the Euro crisis - the medium-term outlook for Indian IT remains positive because of multiple trends, they said. GDP growth in advanced countries may increase in the second half of 2012. The US, particularly, is looking better with unemployment dropping.
Overall spending on IT will increase over the next 5-10 years because of disruptive technologies - adoption of themes such as the social media is becoming critical for companies in any sector. "Even this year, there are efforts to drive operational efficiency. Big data and cloud will throw up new opportunities,"
N Chandrasekaran, CEO of India's largest IT exporter TCS , said.
Indeed, Nasscom's president,
Som Mittal , made a plea: "Let's not talk ourselves into a depression. The business appears to be better than the mood."
One would have to wait and watch to judge if this view is widely shared across the industry.
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