Expect IT sector to add 2-2.5 lakh jobs in next 1-year: Kris Gopalakrishnan, Infosys

NEW DELHI: Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-Chairman, Infosys says that the IT sector in India is projected to add around 2-2.5 lakh jobs in the next one year. He however cautioned of an economic uncertainity in the short term.

"In the medium to long term I am very optimistic about the prospect for the IT industry because technology investment will continue to grow and most of the companies today are looking at India based development centres, captive centres or service providers to support them. The critical mass has already been built in India and so I am very optimistic about the prospects for companies that are both multinationals and domestic companies based in India," said Gopalakrishnan.

Gopalakrishnan told ET Now: "When I look back in 2011, I am actually positive because in spite of a slowdown in the world economy the industry has done reasonably well. Last time in 2008, the growth came down to single digit whereas this time Nasscom projects a growth of about 16-17% which is actually very good growth rate given where the global economy is.

"Commenting on Rupee depreciation, Gopalakrishnan said, "The volatility is always very difficult to handle. In the last 6 months, the rupee has depreciated by 20%, it is unprecedented and such volatility is very difficult for anybody to plan. If you plan to import something, already your costs have gone up by 20%. That is very difficult to plan and factor in. We need less volatility, we need more predictability on rupee movement.

"Recent surveys of chief information officers (CIOs) by research firms like Citigroup and Forrester show that IT major Infosys will be much more under pressure in the months to come than its peers.

The Forrester report that surveyed over 1,000 CIOs found that in the next 12 months Infosys, which had 105 respondents, would see a 4% fall in client spends. TCS with 111 respondents will see a 23% rise in client spends, Cognizant with 78 respondents will see a 13% rise, Wipro with 94 respondents will see a 13% rise, and HCL Tech with 44 respondents will see a 11% rise.

V Balakrishnan, CFO of Infosys, recently said that the global uncertainty has made it tough to acquire large contracts as client spends will remain slow. He added that clients are cautious about committing to long-term projects and it would be difficult for Infosys to achieve the top end of the 3%-5 % sales growth guidance for October-December and the 17.1-19 0.10% sales growth for 2011-12.


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