Resilience is the Defining Edge of India's Tech Sector: Nasscom President The IT services sector has shown resilience across several pivotal crises including the Y2K crisis, the dot com bust, global financial crisis (GFC), and most recently, the Covid-19 crisis.
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Resilience has been the "defining edge" of India's information technology (IT) sector, Rajesh Nambiar, President, Nasscom said on the first day of the ongoing Bengaluru Tech Summit 2024.
The IT services sector has shown resilience across several pivotal crises including the Y2K crisis, the dot com bust, global financial crisis (GFC), and most recently, the Covid-19 crisis.
During the GFC and dot com crisis, the industry focused in building deeper connects and pivoting to newer models and navigating the challenges, Nambiar said. Similarly, during Covid-19, millions of IT employees shifted to a work-from-home model overnight without disruption to business continuity
"India showed to the world that it can deliver even during crisis," Nambiar said.
Moving forward, the industry will see several defining shifts that will change the course of the sector and stakeholders must be prepared for it.
"First is technological shift wherein rapid breakthroughs in AI, quantum computing, and biotechnology are offering opportunities and challenges as organizations integrate emerging tech, reskill employees, and uphold responsible tech governance," said Nambiar.
The second one is geopolitical shift. "Amid global tensions and trade wars, tech companies face complex challenges, defending against escalating cyber threats as nation and states exploit vulnerabilities for advantage," Nambiar said. "As the world GDP has come down, customers have reduced discretionary spending."
The third major shift is around talent where India currently has a demand-supply gap of 20 per cent. Out of 1 million engineers graduating every year, many are not employable, Nambiar said. "We will have 1 billion working population by 2030…our objective is to ensure their skills are ready for the complex business environment across sectors."
Finally, the industry must be focused on agility and adaptability. "Companies must stay adaptive to geopolitical and regulatory changes" he said.
Nambiar said few imperatives are essential to tap into India's tech future. "These are boosting R&D and IP investments, empowering the workforce for the next decade, and innovation to thrive amid disruption."
