Denying any downturn in Indian information technology (IT) sector, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that the industry will create good number of jobs in the financial year 2018. The minister's statement comes against the backdrop of media reports that Indian IT firms were in the midst of the industry's largest retrenchment drive due to US President Donald Trump's protectionist policies.
Noting that domestic IT sector worth Rs 9 lakh crore today employs about 40 lakh people directly and 1.4 crore indirectly, the IT minister has said that the recruitments in major firms, including TCS and Infosys, is expected to rise sharply in this fiscal year. He also explained that the export of Indian IT companies outside is close to Rs 7.4 lakh crore and the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) helping entrepreneurs to export (services) worth about Rs 3.5 lakh crore.
Prasad also said that 6 lakh jobs have been added by the Indian IT companies over the past 3 years of the Narendra Modi-led government. He claimed that retrenchment of 100-200 people had happened in the sector on performance ground. The minister added that the Indian digital economy was going to become $1 trillion in the coming 5 to 7 years.