No downturn in IT sector: Ravi Shankar Prasad

The minister's statement comes against the backdrop of the media reports

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Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad addresses a press conference on the achievements of the Ministry during 3 years of NDA Government, in New Delhi

Press Trust of India

Last Updated : Jun 05 2017 | 12:16 AM IST

Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday dismissed the reports of a downturn in the Indian information technology (IT) sector as “completely wrong” and said a good number of people would get jobs in the current financial year.

The sector worth Rs 9 lakh crore today employs about four million (mn) people directly and 14 mn indirectly. The minister said firms like TCS and Infosys had said they would recruit thousands of professionals.

The minister’s statement comes against the backdrop of the media reports that IT firms in India were in the midst of the industry’s largest retrenchment drive due to US President Donald Trump’s protectionist policies.

“Coming to the IT sector, a lot of things being told about downturn. It is completely wrong. I want to deny it. The export of Indian IT companies outside is close to Rs 7.4 lakh crore and the STPI (Software Technology Parks of India) helping entrepreneurs to export (services) worth about Rs 3.5 lakh crore,” he said.