NASSCOM lowers IT export growth estimates to 7-8% in 2017-18

The Dollar Business Bureau 

India’s IT software exports are expected to grow at 7-8% during the current financial year 2017-18, which is less than 8-10% in the previous fiscal of 2016-17, the apex trade body NASSCOM said on Thursday.

“The outlook for the IT industry in fiscal 2017-18 is 7-8% growth in exports and 10-11% in the domestic market as against 10-12% in 2016-17,” NASSCOM said in a statement.

The Indian IT services sector has been coping with a slowdown in the business of banking and financial services, which contributes a major part to the revenues. It has also been impacted by its retail customers facing a sluggish growth from the upsurge of online retail channels.

India’s $150-billion IT industry revenues mainly come from Business Process Management (BPM), software products and software services. The exports of the sector make up about 80% of the revenues, with the American market contributing 60% of it.

Mentioning that the digital services and niche divisions would be major growth drivers, NASSCOM said that the revenue estimates was based on financial services improvement and high potential of the digital business.

Allaying concerns of job losses and slowdown, the industry representative body said that the sector was likely to add around 1.3-1.5 lakh jobs during this fiscal as it continues to be a net employer with demand for skilled professionals rising across the segments.

The industry body, however, stated that it was vital for existing and new talent to reskill themselves in order to be ready for emerging jobs that required new skillsets.

“Manoeuvring through an uncertain phase over the past year, the industry has maintained its status as a key net hirer in the country and global technology and services hub. Considering the evolution that the industry is undergoing due to the adoption of new technologies, it is imperative that we as an industry drive the skilling and reskilling of new and existing talent,” NASSCOM President R Chandrashekhar said in a statement.