It is now official: though revenue growth is expected to be strong in 2013-14, hiring in the IT industry will be slow this year as the industry cleans up its act.
“Hiring will be slow for two reasons; growth rate has slowed and utilisation levels are going up,” N Chandrasekharan, MD and CEO of India’s top-ranked IT services company Tata Consultancy Services and chairman of the National Association of Software Companies (Nasscom) said on the sidelines of the industry body’s annual summit in Mumbai.
Industry leaders including TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL that hire a majority of IT engineers (of the industry) every year are yet to announce hiring plans for 2013-14. However, indications are that the recruitment scenario is far from being buoyant although Nasscom has made a growth forecast of 12-14% for the industry.
Industry growth has slowed from 16.3% in 2011-12 to 10.2% in 2012-13 and firms are focussing on increasing utilisation levels of existing staff from 75-80% to 80-85%.
“Hiring has slowed down because of the perceived demand situation in the last two years,” said Chandrasekharan.
{{/usCountry}}“Hiring has slowed down because of the perceived demand situation in the last two years,” said Chandrasekharan.
{{/usCountry}}The Indian IT industry directly employs three million people, and is expected to close the current fiscal year with an addition of 1,88,000 jobs.
He was confident about the industry’s growth prospects. “As adoption of new technologies rises, revenue will increase. Opportunities are immense, adoption cycles may take time.”