Nasscom may lower IT growth forecast for 2008-09

Nasscom the industry body that represents the Indian IT industry is planning to come out with a revised growth forecast for the ongoing fiscal by the end of this year, in the wake of a global financial meltdown.

The forecast is expected to be lower than the earlier 21-24 per cent growth projection given by Nasscom earlier.

"There would be some resetting of expectations," Som Mittal, president, Nasscom told reporters on the sidelines of TiE Entrepreneurial Summit 2008 here on Tuesday.

"We are picking up information and analysing it. The first half of the current fiscal has been reasonably good. We had a 24 per cent growth in the first six months. The second half should be slower than the first half. That's very clear," he added.

According to Nasscom, the uncertainty in the global market is expected to prevail for the next 4-6 months. In the given environment, the IT industry has already seen wage moderation, and will continue to be moderate in the next year, said Mittal, adding that this is expected to affect the fresh hirings by IT/ITeS firms.

"We are getting mixed signals. There are some areas where growth is happening because the customers are under pressure. But very clearly decision-making is slowing at this point in time," he added.

Nasscom has projected that the industry will see a wage moderation and the hiring plans will take a hit due to the slowdown. "Wage moderation in the IT industry has already happened, and clearly, the hiring level will be lower than the previous year," he added.

Regarding the lay-offs in the IT industry, Mittal said companies have raised the performance bar of the employees increased. "It is very much company specific, and is happening when the parent companies are in trouble. But, the employees also need to rise up to the occasion by working in a responsible manner."