Digital capabilities to drive Indian tech industry's next phase: Nasscom

C P Gurnani says digital tsunami is reshaping our industry and priority is to reimagine businesses

Riding on the hard work of over 3.86 million employees and growth of five per cent over the financial year (FY) 2016, digital capabilities will drive the Indian technology industry's next phase of development, industry's representative body Nasscom said on Wednesday.

The new emerging technologies will open up multiple areas of work for the industry and will have a significant impact on existing service lines.

"The digital tsunami is reshaping our industry and the priority is to reimagine businesses and unlock new opportunities," C P Gurnani, Chairman at Nasscom, said in a statement.

"The Indian IT-BPM (Information Technology-Business Process Management) Sector is emerging as a digital solutions partner for global corporations and we are excited to work across stakeholders — customers, start-ups, academia and others to build this exciting future," Gurnani added.

On the industry's performance in FY17, Nasscom predicted that amid continuous technology disruptions, political upheavals and slowdown in IT-BPM global spending, the Indian IT-BPM industry is projected to grow at a rate of 8.6 per cent (in constant currency) to reach over $155 billion in FY17.

IT-BPM exports from India are expected to reach $118 billion. India's domestic IT-BPM market is expected to grow by 12 per cent year-on-year to reach Rs 2,545 billion.

In terms of the markets, the US and the APAC region are fastest growing at 7.8 per cent with gradual stabilisation in the growth of the European market.

"While there are some uncertainties in the short term, the initial data from global analysts on tech spending in 2018 is promising," added R Chandrashekhar, President at NASSCOM.

"We are initiating deeper interactions with all stakeholders — global customers and industry providers — to get a more reliable and clear perspective on the projections for financial year 2018 and will give the guidance in the next quarter," Chandrashekhar added.

The future skills work group at NASSCOM, in partnership with Boston Consulting Group (BCG), is working together with the industry on a two-pronged approach to enhance the skills ecosystem — Skills vs 'Job-specific' curriculum and tech-enabled learning ecosystem.

The initiative aims to skill/reskill 1.5-2 million people to be skilled over the next 4-5 years.