The National Association of Software and Solutions Companies (NASSCOM) has forecasted India’s Information Technology (IT) industry will grow at 7-9 percent in the next financial year 2018-19 as against 7.8 percent in 2017-18, despite of multiple global headwinds and uncertainties in the software services space. Noting that the next year will be better for the technology industry at large, it has projected a flat growth revenue scenario for the second year in a row. According to the industry body, the export revenues will grow to $135-137 billion from the $126 billion estimated for the current year.
Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar has said that the domestic revenue may grow at slightly higher pitch of 10-12 percent, while exports may lag in FY19. He added that the industry may hire 100,000 new hands in FY19, which again 50 percent lower than what it had projected for this year. For the current fiscal, he said that the industry may register lower-than-projected 7.8 percent growth, and may touch $167 billion in revenue size during the year in terms of exports and 10 percent in domestic revenue.
Expressing optimism, Chandrashekhar said that the mood is upbeat and the trend is positive, which should translate into better business opportunities. Software services body had forecast export revenue growth of 7-8 percent in FY18, compared to 7.6 percent in FY17. In FY16, exports earnings rose just 7.6 percent, while domestic revenue was around 10-11 percent. Even on the hiring front, the outlook is dim with a 50 percent likely slip from 130,000-150,000 new jobs projected for FY18.
