Lok Sabha Question No. 3805 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-19
Subject: Automation Impact on Jobs
Ministry: LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
Asked by: MALLIKARJUN  KHARGE

## MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA LOKSABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3805 TO BE ANSWERED ON 19 TH  MARCH, 2018

## AUTOMATION IMPACT ON JOBS

3805.  SHRI MALLIKARJUN KHARGE:

Will the Minister of LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  it  is  true  that  a  high  number  of  jobs  are  in  danger  due  to increased automation;
- (b)
- if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the major sectors that have been/ likely to be effected by automation;
- (d) the number of layoff that have happened since 2014 due to automation in the country; and
- (e) whether  the  Government  has  formulated  any  plans  to  manage  the workforce that may lose its jobs due to automation and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE (IC) FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT (SHRI SANTOSH KUMAR GANGWAR)

- (a)  to  (e):  According  to  National  Association  of  Software  and  Services Companies (NASSCOM), the half yearly financial reports of major IT companies indicate a decline in employment. The drop in the recruitment by the  IT  industry  this  fiscal  year  is  due  to  several  factors  which  inter-alia include:
-  Some  of  the  less  complex,  standard  and  repetitive  jobs  are  being automated ;
-  Companies are improving their employee-utilisation levels and reducing bench strength ; and
-  Companies  are  employing  people  with  specialised  skillsets  in  newer areas such as data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence and internet-of-things.  The growth rate in these technologies and the nature of the business do not necessitate large-scale hiring.

As per NASSCOM, the Indian IT-BPM industry is expected to continue to be a net  hirer  and  currently  employs  nearly  3.9  million  people  in  this  fiscal,  an addition of 173,000 over last year.

According  to  NASSCOM  the  IT-BPM  industry,  both  globally  and  in  India,  is witnessing unprecedented changes in technology. Current trend observed is the automation of entire sets of activities that are simple, standardised and rule-based. As a result, few job roles are expected to become redundant over the medium- to long-term.  Driven by the impact of disruptive technologies social,  cloud,  mobile,  analytics,  AI  etc,  the  IT-BPM  industry  in  India  is fundamentally transforming its business model and building new offerings to emerge as the digital solutions partner. This structural change in the sector requires re-skilling, domain knowledge and enhanced technology competencies.  However, these changes also mean that new sets of skills are needed and as such, these are throwing up opportunities for newer job roles.

The stakeholders covering industry, academia and Sector Skills Councils are working  to  ensure  that  the  existing  workforce  is  re-skilled/up-skilled  in emerging technologies and job roles. Most companies (large, medium & small) are  also  implementing  rigorous  training  programs  to  re-skill/up-skill  their existing employees in new and emerging technologies.

*****