Indian IT sector needs new skill sets: C P Gurnani

Opportunities are there and industry would also need to partner in creating new skills, says Gurnani

Bullish on prospects of new innovations like automation and artificial intelligence, industry leader C P Gurnani on Tuesday said the Indian IT sector should see them as opportunities, but the challenge is to create new skill sets for these areas.

Gurnani said artificial intelligence is here to stay and if one does not adopt it, the person is "not intelligent".

He also dismissed suggestions that automation and new innovations would hurt the job market and asserted that these new things will require new skill sets.

Gurnani, the CEO of leading IT firm Tech Mahindra, said opportunities are still there and the industry would also need to partner in creating new skills.

"Skills required for tomorrow are very different and it can be an opportunity. But if we don't adopt and change, every opportunity can be a threat, too. We will have to change, otherwise we won't be ready with right skills," he told PTI in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting.

Asked what are the main expectations of Indian leaders and especially the IT sector from the WEF summit this year, Gurnani said, "To say that there are really some expectations will be a difficult statement because clearly the world in 2017 is trying to get some amount of stability and direction.

"All said and done, there are challenges before the world and they are only going to become interesting. Clearly, Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit and his stance on various issues is going to be very important because China has emerged as a major world force and how they view Brexit and the changes that Trump Presidency would bring in are going to be critical."

He said Jinping's views will certainly bring in some amount of direction to the way the world is going to shape out.

"Clearly, some of the challenges that we are seeing whether about Syria etc are critical," he said, adding that elections in some European countries like France and Germany are also going to be important.

"Clearly, the world around us is changing and we need to get some direction," he added.

Gurnani, who is also the Vice-President of IT industry body Nasscom and works closely with technology-related groupings at WEF, said other key issues likely to be discussed at the summit will be digital disruptions and new opportunities.

Asked whether de-globalisation is a potential risk the world and the IT industry is looking at, he said: "The fact is till the time you get some direction, everything is open. Instead of predicting, I'm looking for the direction."

"Good news is technology is making all the disruptions and there are not enough skills available on Monday to meet all the demand. It will always be a demand-supply scenario and I'll see it as an opportunity," he said.

Gurnani also said the world and the sector should not be seen as software-hardware and it should be seen as a "connected world".

"In my opinion, barriers for IT are not globalisation or de-globalisation today. These are irrelevant because you can't put any barrier on software," he said.