Lok Sabha Question No. 4289 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-21
Subject: Hiring Rate in IT Sector
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: M. B. RAJESH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  4289

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 21.03.2018

## HIRING RATE IN IT SECTOR

## 4289.   SHRI M.B. RAJESH:

Will the Minister of Electronics & Information Technology be pleased to state: -

- (a) whether there has been a deceleration in net new hiring growth rate in the IT sector;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor ;
- (c) whether the trend will continue in the ongoing year and the coming year; and
- (d) the total revenue growth of the IT sector and the total growth in job additions in the last three years?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI K J ALPHONS)

- (a): Yes, Sir.  However, despite the gentle deceleration, the IT sector continues to be a net hirer.
- (b): The year-wise details of Employment in the IT Sector are as under:

|                 | FY2015-16   | FY2016-17   | FY2017-18   |
|-----------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
| Total employees | 36,88,000   | 38,63,000   | 39,68,000   |
| Net addition    | 2,03,000    | 1,75,000    | 1,05,000    |
| Growth rate     | 6%          | 4.50%       | 2.70%       |

Besides,  the  Government  initiatives  such  as  Common  Service  Centres  (CSCs),  BPO Promotion schemes,  Electronic  Manufacturing,  Digital  Payments,  and  Digital  Saksharta  Abhiyaan  have generated nearly 15 lakh additional jobs during the last two years.

There is a continuing gentle deceleration in net hiring growth rate (but with a growing base) as industry focuses on innovation, enhanced efficiencies and lower attrition. The drop in the hiring growth rate in the IT industry is due to several factors which inter-alia includes:

-  Exponential and disruptive adoption of new technologies by the industry;
-  Some of the less complex, standard and repetitive jobs are being automated;
-  Companies are improving their employee-utilisation levels and reorienting their bench strength. The emphasis is shifting to upgraded skills; and
-  Companies are employing people with specialised skill-sets in newer areas such as data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence and internet-of-things.
- (c): The industry continues to be a net hirer in the ongoing year and is projected to add about 1,00,000  new  jobs  in  the  year  2018-19.    Further,  thereafter,  according  to  NASSCOM,  it  is estimated that the IT-BPM sector would continue to hire at a rate of 3% to 3.5% year-on-year to reach 45,00,000 total jobs by 2022.
- (d): The total growth in job additions in the last three years is as given in part (b) above. The total revenue growth of the IT sector in the last three years is as under:

|                         |   2015-16 |   2016-17 |   2017-18 (E) |
|-------------------------|-----------|-----------|---------------|
| Exports (US$ billions)  |       108 |       116 |           126 |
| Domestic (US$ billions) |        35 |        38 |            41 |
| Total                   |       143 |       154 |           167 |

## (E) = Estimate Source: NASSCOM ******** GOVERNMENT OF INDIA