Allaying fears about the $160-billion IT industry slowdown, Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel has said that there is no need to be unduly pessimistic about job scenario in the information technology (IT) sector and pointed out that growing startups can help to create a good number of jobs. Patel’s remarks come amid trade body Nasscom’s guidance that pegged export revenue growth to contract at 7-8 percent in 2017-18 as against 8.6 percent achieved last fiscal.
Patel has said that there could be pressure on employment in some of the IT sectors, it is not necessarily in terms of literally a job destruction, but may be the growth rate is affected by what is happening. He noted that the number of startups in that same space is almost compensating for most of this. Talking about fintech (financial technology), he said that with the emergence of technology-enabled innovation in financial services there will both opportunities and risks to financial sector stability.
RBI Governor further said that at present, the IT industry employs over four million people directly. He also explained that increasing automation and protectionist policies in the developed world, especially the US which is the biggest market for the sector, are being blamed for the reverses. Adding further, he said that India has benefited from its open trade policies on external trade relations. He noted that unequivocally, India's position should be for an open trading system and added that they should stick to it despite the changes adopted in a few countries.