IT industry should reposition to deliver global value: Vishal Sikka

Infosys chief executive Vishal Sikka has asked India's software industry to reposition itself as one that delivers global value and move away from being a sector that delivers services by leveraging cost arbitrage, which can be replicated by global firms in the country

“I am a US citizen. Anybody can set up a captive in India now. The idea that we are India-based services industry or we are an India-based company is something that we have to get away from," said Sikka, while answering a question on automation and the future of Indian IT industry at the WELLSFARGO Technology, Media & Telecom Conference 2016 on Thursday evening.

Sikka's comments come at a time when the Indian IT industry is facing a crisis of declining business in traditional services, while growth in new services in digital and cloud not matching up with decline. India's software industry is expected to grow single digits, the first time in over a decade as global firms look at automation of existing software and shift towards cloud.

"When I walk around in Bengaluru or in Shanghai we see every brand out there; every company is present in every one of these places, so it is no longer about an Indian IT outsourcing company but it is about a company that can deliver a sort of value and capability that nobody else can, innovation that nobody else can and when we look at ourselves in that line there is a tremendous future ahead,” Sikka said. 

Infosys and its rivals have been pushing adoption of artificial intelligence and shift away from a people driven model to one that uses software as an additional layer to deliver services to customers.

“I think that we have to be the innovation driver. In the age automation, the future belongs to those who can innovate. As long as we treat Artificial Intelligence as an amplifier of our ability and innovation as the human frontier where we can deploy our imagination, creativity to shape the unknown and doing problem finding. I think this will continue to be the industry that defines its future growth," he said.