Hurdles Indian IT faced in 2017: Jobless growth, protectionism & automation

Staring at slow business for traditional services and not enough orders in newer digital services, Indian IT firms saw jobless growth for the first time in their history

For decades, India's information technology (IT) services companies grew headcount year on year as they put more people on projects and charged for them from clients. 

Reality struck in 2017 when rising automation and rapid decline in orders for traditional services forced them to revisit their people-to-project model. Staring at slow business for traditional services and not enough orders in newer digital services, Indian firms saw jobless growth for the first time in their history.  

In the nine months to September, the top six IT services firms – Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Cognizant Technology Solutions, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies, and Tech